ansaurus

Question

Stupid, but commercially successful software

Answer 1

+10 A:

This is another face of one of the key principles of the universe:

Life is not fair.

And of course a law of economics:

if somebody pays for it, it has value
if a lot of people pay for it, it makes you rich.

There is no logic in economy.

Gamecat 2009-01-01 14:54:49

There is logic in people though - sometimes anyway ~)Since we cannot decide on what it is we do – science, art, big bag of donuts - maybe it is time we think about the psychological reasons people use software? Maybe this will help us define what we do…?

2009-01-01 15:01:22

great comment man. 100% agreed

Click Upvote 2009-01-01 15:25:40

A person is logical, but PEOPLE are stupid. =)

gnovice 2009-02-16 16:09:20

People in groups act stupid. Alcohol greatly intensifies that phenomena.

Gamecat 2009-02-16 19:15:36

Answer 2

+8 A:

"With ignorance and confidence, success is certain." ~ Mark Twain

Jesse 2009-01-01 14:55:57

Will be my personal moto!

User 2009-02-16 14:44:25

Answer 3

+24 A:

http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

2009-01-01 14:58:05

wow, I'd completely forgotten about that site. Brings back memories...

Mikeage 2009-01-01 15:24:29

It isn't stupid.

Click Upvote 2009-01-01 15:26:36

@Java: the idea itself isn't stupid, but pretty useless...

splattne 2009-01-01 15:32:26

That's the first one coming to mind, indeed... :-)

PhiLho 2009-01-01 16:44:08

Answer 4

+5 A:

I'd nominate just about any of the "Aquarium" or similar screensavers. There's even a Widget for the Mac that runs an aquarium - complete with sounds - just in case you want to quickly pop it up and see what the fishies are doing.

Mark Brittingham 2009-01-01 14:58:52

Answer 5

+20 A:

splattne 2009-01-01 15:00:12

This is actually a brilliant idea

Click Upvote 2009-01-01 15:27:08

I don't think it's stupid either. It's actually quite ingenious. A cheap game that people can carry with them on their keychain, and the constant nagging makes it quite addictive. Like a primitive Animal Crossing.

Kibbee 2009-01-01 16:58:17

Do you believe in coincidences? Today (a day after I answered this question), my little daughter (5) was given one of these little suckers as present... unbelievable after so many years... I guess these sort of things are called synchronicities.

splattne 2009-01-02 16:24:09

Somebody has been reading your posts on stackoverflow.com and bending it back to you. :-D

icelava 2009-01-04 16:06:15

So what will come next? A copy of SoftRAM? Aargh! ;-)

splattne 2009-01-05 10:23:36

IMO This is not stupid, it's just a simulation game.

Daniel Daranas 2009-01-15 09:14:59

They're making a comeback

Russ Cam 2009-02-22 13:07:18

"Connecting with other friends" => At least the first production series (1996) in Europe didn't have that functionality. Or did you mean that only in a social way? ;) Actually I think it was not that stupid, it only got overpriced when it was hyped. (suddenly sold at a doubled or even tripled price)

Energiequant 2009-02-22 13:26:04

Answer 6

+4 A:

icelava 2009-01-01 15:06:11

>>I agree with Paul RichardsonLets turn this into a screen saver and see it we can make millions...Shameless +1

2009-01-01 15:17:02

iFart screen saver? And mandate via Active Directory Group Policy all workstations run the screen saver after 30 seconds of idle activity?

icelava 2009-01-01 15:23:26

I don't see games as useless or stupid...

PhiLho 2009-01-01 16:45:11

it's a game, for entertainment. I see iFart as nothing but entertainment either.

icelava 2009-01-01 18:03:42

OMG I just paid £3 for this on my phone.

DrG 2009-02-16 15:00:22

Answer 7

+30 A:

"I am rich" application for iPhone.

Armin Heinrich has released an app on the iTunes App Store called I Am Rich [App Store]. The $999.99 application displays a red icon on your iPhone and iPod touch to remind others that you were able to afford it. As the developer notes, "it's a work of art with no hidden function at all."

2009-01-01 15:09:12

Perfect example, IFart have at least some feature - it farts.

zendar 2009-01-01 15:16:20

As I recall, this sold 6 copies before Apple removed from the store!

utku_karatas 2009-01-08 13:23:30

splattne 2009-01-10 10:22:07

For the BlackBerry users among you who have a case of iPhone envy, I present the BlackBerry version of the application, called "I am Berry Rich". I am offering it at a massive discount. http://www.angryhacker.com/berry/

AngryHacker 2009-01-28 07:34:50

"Six people from the United States, one from Germany and one from France dropped a grand for the gem in the first 24 hours it was available, Heinrich said. That's $5,600 in revenue for Heinrich and $2,400 for Apple, which collects 30% of each sale for "store upkeep." ... "UPDATED: In a follow-up e-mail, Heinrich said he had not yet received his $5,600 check from Apple, which has a policy of paying developers at the end of each calendar month. He's unsure how the app's removal will affect the payment process."

Dustin Getz 2009-08-18 14:03:20

Answer 8

+2 A:

Online casinos

I looked it up in Wikipedia. Didn't know there are even different types:

Web-based online casinos: websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to the local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plugins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plugins.
Download-based online casinos: require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered.
Live-based casino gaming: allows web players to interact with games played in a real world casino environment. Online players can see, hear, and interact with live dealers at tables in casino studios worldwide.

splattne 2009-01-01 15:17:00

Answer 9

+14 A:

Microsoft Works. Not only is it useless compared to both Office and OpenOffice.org, it's an oxymoron.

dsimcha 2009-01-01 15:20:30

Hardly a cash cow for Microsoft though was it.

AnthonyWJones 2009-01-01 15:25:53

Was it successful???

icelava 2009-01-01 16:09:47

Almost need a new catagory - useless AND a total failure. IMO the winner would be Microsoft's BOB. ;-)

Huntrods 2009-01-01 18:42:19

What, Clippy doesn't get any love?

VirtuosiMedia 2009-02-17 07:38:50

I remember they kept trying to kill Works while I was at Microsoft, but people kept on buying it, and the company felt obligated to rev it at since it generated so much revenue for so little investment.

JasonTrue 2009-09-26 17:58:50

(rev it again and again, I meant to say)

JasonTrue 2009-09-26 18:01:02

Answer 10

+18 A:

splattne 2009-01-01 16:53:46

For german speaking people: here is the link to the 1995 heise c't article: http://www.heise.de/ct/95/12/100/

splattne 2009-01-01 17:04:53

That wikipedia page was interesting!

Simucal 2009-01-01 19:25:32

They sold 600,000!!!

utku_karatas 2009-01-08 13:14:52

Back in their glory days; software was not available for sale in many European countries and its pirated copies were sold above its original price. OMG!

Berk D. Demir 2009-02-16 16:02:29

Answer 11

+9 A:

Election machines

Friedrich 2009-01-27 09:18:37

Pat Buchanan... oops! I hit the wrong button when placing my comment!

gnovice 2009-02-16 16:11:24

Answer 12

+5 A:

Anti-Mosquito software:

Are you constantly swatting away mosquitoes as you work at your computer? Here's your solution: anti-mosquito software. A Thai computer programmer named Saranyou Punyaratanabunbhu developed it about two years ago, and it proved so wildly successful that he soon came out with version 2.0, that also promised to repel cockroaches and rats. It drives away the nasty critters by making your computer speakers emit high-pitched frequencies.

But does it actually work? Well, I wouldn't bet on it. As the pest control experts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln note in their Cockroach Control Manual, "There is no scientific evidence to suggest that cockroaches (or any other insects) respond negatively to ultrasonic sound waves." Still, this hasn't stopped a South Korean phone company, SK Telecom, from offering anti-mosquito software that you can download to your cellphone.

Probably entirely useless, but still pretty popular.

Originally posted by Colin Pickard

Colin Pickard 2009-02-16 14:40:26

I have "Katori Pod", a Japanese iPhone app, which is apparently for the same purpose, but I think it was free or very, very cheap. (My wife bought it originally). Mostly I found it obnoxious.

JasonTrue 2009-09-26 18:10:08

Answer 13

+6 A:

Windows ME

Let's bolt the Windows 2000 theme over Windows 98 with some half-baked extras and sell it as a whole new OS!

I was working in tech support when this was released - I don't there was a customer out there that didn't have problems with Windows ME.

Keith 2009-02-16 14:54:11

As far as I remember it wasn't even very successful from a business perspetive...

splattne 2009-02-16 15:01:58

Answer 14

+1 A:

software for gambling on horse-racing!!

not only is it stupid, but it can ruin families.

hasen j 2009-02-16 16:02:47

Answer 15

+5 A:

Untrots 2009-02-22 12:33:38

Answer 16

A:

MS-DOS!

(maby not completely useless, but silly nevertheless :))

Slartibartfast 2009-02-22 13:02:43

Trying to be funny? MS-DOS was the best OS in the world for me, it was THE operating system that sparkled my love for computers... best memories are the ones when setting the soundblaster configuration for those absolutely cool dos games ... man what times ...

Pop Catalin 2009-02-22 13:48:09

Yeah, I knew this will piss some people off :) but from the operating system perspective, I find it hard not to call it silly (although to be fair, in some areas, it was just an affect of a 8086 architecture, that was also silly).

Slartibartfast 2009-02-22 23:21:47

Apparently you don't remember how scarce time sharing operating systems were at the time, and how many people who are now credited for writing open 'anything' used DOS and a tcp/ip stack to get things done. FYI, we didn't start hating Microsoft until Windows95.

Tim Post 2009-02-26 12:26:34

It would only be silly if they hadn't upgraded. Very good tech at the time.

Tim Matthews 2009-02-26 12:27:46

I'm still not sure why it was silly?

cdmckay 2009-08-18 14:37:03

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Stupid, but commercially successful software

Online casinos

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