What turns away users/prospective users?

Question

In your experience as a developer, what kinds of things have turned away users and prospective users from using your programs? Also, what kinds of things turn you away from using someone else's programs?

For example, one thing that really bugs me is when someone provides free software, but require you to enter your name and email address before you download it. Why do they need my name and email address? I just want to use the program! I understand that the developer(s) may want to get a feel for how many users they have, etc, but the extra work I have to do really makes me think twice about downloading their software, even if it does really great things.

Answer 1

I will rethink downloading something if I think they will start sending me SPAM if I give them my e-mail address.

At a previous employer we had a program I helped write that was online as a "free" download. They had to put something in for Name, address, phone, and e-mail. Oh, and no opt-out checkbox. It annoys me when other companies do this, but I didn't have any say in the matter.

Answer 2

The info needed for free things gets me too, but other than that:

• Bundled software, most of the time adware or browser bars
• Having to click too many times to do a simple action

Answer 3

• Requiring lots of information when signing up -- name and email is bad enough, as you say, but some registration forms have many many fields. The fewer the better.
• Charging money but refusing to disclose the price unless you speak to a sales rep
• Having a web site that only works in certain browsers
• No releases since 2003
• No documentation
• Support forum with many questions and no answers

Answer 4

Setup programs that come bundled with all sorts of freeware (even things like Google toolbar) that are selected by default. I just want the program I downloaded, not all sorts of other programs. I can understand that developers might get something in return for including these add-ons in their setups but I hate it when they are selected to be installed by default.

Answer 5

Automatic updates and "information" screens that pop up every single system startup.

Yes, you updated yourself good job but I don't care nor want to know that you have. Do I really have to click "No, I don't want to upgrade to the pricier version" every single time I start my computer?

Ad infections. You know the kind where if you scroll your mouse over the text your reading it'll pop up a thing so you can't read it anymore. And flash ads that have sound(especially that you can't turn off. this was the reason I installed adblock plus) and pop up windows that happen multiple times while your sitting on a page.

Also, pop ups telling me to join a sites news letter mailing list. (where the "no" button is very small)

Answer 6

Websites that advertise "Free Download!" for something that turns out to be a paid app. Wow, so generous to allow me to transfer data over the internet for free.

Answer 7

Putting an icon in the taskbar when I don't want it there.

I installed an app called Pamella that records Skype calls. I'm fine with 1 icon in the taskbar -- Skype's icon -- but Pamela adding a second just got me angry and I uninstalled it.

Answer 8

• Ugly / unfit user-interface. For me, this is really important.
• Having to register to download the program (specially if it's freeware)
• Browser-specific / requiring special/other applications to work properly
• Bloated applications that start with a few MBs and finally grow to 100's of MBs and huge mem consumption.

That'd be most of the things that turn me away from a program.

Answer 9

One of the things that bugs me the most (using, not downloading to try in the first place...):

I download or buy software it is because I want to USE it for something. If it is so friendly that it is 100% intuitive and needs no documentation before being useful, great! If it has comprehensive on-line or other help that answers all my questions as they come up, that's OK too.

However, if it has any kind of learning curve at all and nothing but my own persistent trial and error before I can do anything with it.... Off the drive it goes, within the first 5 minutes. Well, maybe I will use it if I am being paid to, but even in these cases I would probably recommend something else.

A user interface that is so simple that practically no documentation is required, or that has documentation that is accessible is a joy to use. If the program is complex and requires non-trivial documentation, that documentation should explain EVERYTHING a user might want to know, making no assumptions about his or her prior knowledge. That also puts my appreciation meter way up there.

Make your software actually do something people want done, and make it painless for them to do that with it, and you will have lots of satisfied users and word of mouth recommendations.

Answer 10

Here are a few annoyances that I haven't seen anyone else mention:

• Programs that auto-launch one or more processes at system startup that run constantly in the background (invisibly, in the clock tray, or otherwise).
  • While some of these are necessary, most would either be better implemented with a utility that runs periodically (use the system's task scheduler!) or don't need to be launched until the associated program is launched.
• Dialog boxes that pop up on top of all open windows (even those of other applications).
  • This is even more annoying if you run full-screen apps.
  • Pop-up dialogs that won't let you switch to another app until they are dismissed make me want to throw something.
• Stealing my file type associations or changing the icons associated with a MIME type when I already have that type assigned to another application. At an absolute minimum, ask me first.
• Storing user data/documents in file types that can't be opened by other applications
  • The worst is when files are also bound to a specific version of the application
• Automatically cluttering my desktop and quick launch menus with icons
• Automatically adding a link to your crappy website into my web browser's bookmarks
• Assuming I use Internet Explorer and launch it specifically instead of querying the system for the default browser (same goes for media player, email client, etc)
• Failing to understand the difference between user-specific settings and system-wide settings
• Re-mapping common, near-universal keyboard shortcuts (cut, paste, undo, print, refresh, etc) for no good reason
  • If you're going to re-map Ctrl+C from "copy" to "close without saving anything", at least pop up a dialog warning people when they use it
• Requiring an exact version of a library or framework. I don't want to have to uninstall the .Net 2.0 framework and re-install 1.1 just to run your program.
• Spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors in the user interface or documentation. If you can't be bothered to at run (at least) an automated spelling checker, then you probably also didn't bother testing your app properly.
• Displaying error messages to the user in a way that isn't useful. I don't care if "unexpected error #3410 occurred", I want to know what on earth that means and what I should do about it.
  • If you thought the error was important enough to program in a unique error message, why did you instead program error-handling code that could gracefully handle the situation? Only let me know about an error if I caused it directly or if I can fix it.
  • On a related note, aren't all errors unexpected?
• Sending me to a website when I click "Help" instead of including help files with the local installation. I don't mind if you periodically download updated help files from the web, but people still need documentation when an Internet connection isn't available.
• Bulleted lists that are way too long.

Answer 11

I left this on my list but it's a big enough annoyance that it probably stands on its own:

Software that requires users to pay for bug fixes, security patches, or critical updates.

If you have a patch that adds some new feature that I want, I don't mind paying for it. If you made a mistake and you are trying to get me to pay you to fix your mistake, then that's where we have a problem. Any physical product manufactured and sold would call this a "recall" and wouldn't dare charge customers to fix it.

In the past, some software products have shipped with known flaws to encourage users to buy the "critical updates subscription". This is downright evil.

Answer 12

How much pain am I going to endure to develop a conscious competence in using the program? Some computer games I tried to play but after a few hours if I haven't figured things out, I'll stop playing. If a program is hard to use and I don't have a really good motivation to resolve it, that will stop me right there.

How complicated is the installation process? How many minutes will I spend getting the basics of the program understood so I can be productive with it? How close to other programs is it, so that I can leverage how I use other programs to use this,e.g. if I've used Microsoft Office for years are the menus similar to that or is it someone else's idea of the ultimate menu system? Those are the questions I tend to wrestle with in a new program.

If something takes hours to install and then more hours to configure for my use, this really makes me question how useful is the software, really. I can understand the appeal of software that can be customized in a bazillion ways, but if I'm just getting used to the software, do I want these options at this point? To give an example of how absurd this would be in other situations, imagine if you had to list all the ingredients in a pizza or an automobile before getting to the options that mattered to you? You have to list everything in the pizza dough or car's body that most people don't think twice about what is there.