Annoying software: a rogues’ gallery

From Apple’s auto updates that clandestinely attempt to install new software, to the erratically performing Windows Vista in general, to the 80 megabyte Adobe reader “updates”, software upgrades increasingly seem to be designed to hog system resources and infuriate computer users.

What does Adobe Reader do? Displays PDF pages. How does it do it? With as much bloody-minded bureaucracy, delay and needless interaction as possible. Perhaps it’s because we humans have been spoiled by books, where the gap between wanting to read something and reading it is as short as the time taken to lift the cover. But Reader’s incessant updates (demanding you reset your computer - why?), thundering great list of modules to load, and hour-glass-provoking pauses for thought have given Portable Document Format a reputation for being as welcome as a flatulent camel in the kitchen.