Collaboration Software Frustrations!

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
I want:

1: A multi-user scribble space.

2: Screen sharing.

3: Video and audio chat.

4: It had better keep the hell out of my shit.

5: Encryption.

THAT'S ALL!

I don't want any damned integrations, remote control of programs, launching nonsense within programs, or anything of the like. I don't want to manage a fucking schedule, organize events, or be anywhere near a program that will not keep itself to itself.

I don't want it poking around my contacts, arranging new contacts, sharing data or any similar feature aside from what I've listed above.

What the hell happened to simple, portable programs that just create a direct connection? Cisco, aside from the foolishness of running you up and down a list of everyone online used to do it. Hell, the Imagination Network from Sierra On-Line used to do most of it, but that was before the era of multimedia.

Now Webex is a joke. Skype integrates contacts and combines business and personal. Nobody knows what the fuck Microsoft Teams actually does, Google anything is terrible, fuck Apple, and so on...

I want something that does what I want to do and absolutely nothing else. I'd prefer a traditional program, and their own website will be IGNORED immediately if it's full of bullshit corporate-speak instead of useful information about the product.

I am of the mind, at this time, that no good collaboration software exists for someone who just wants to communicate and get shit done with a small team or simply one person. Honestly, I don't think I need anything like this, but if I hear it one more time from someone who thinks shit can't be done without it, I'm going to smash some fucking skulls in real time to get my rocks off and cool the jets, so here I am.

What's out there that's not bullshit?

If you want to know what I think is perfect, here it is: STEAM!

Obviously it's not collaboration software, but it should be the bones behind some, that's for sure.

Screen share should simply be a capture function. End of story. There is no need for any further access. I won't tolerate any further access. Record what I'm looking at and transmit it. Nothing more.

This is bulllshit. Every time this comes up my god damned blood fucking boils over.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
I'm about a week away from mandating Discord or some other gaming program, and just ditching the whiteboard and making people screen capture MS paint and draw over the shit.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Well, now that I'm done fussing about it, I'm just using Discord. Fuck all that other shit.

Still interested to hear if anyone is doing it right, though.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

brian4d

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2007
6,499
67
High Point, NC
What's your end goal again? You may be saying it but I'm not comprehending. We use gotomeeting and been very happy. Is this the functionality you're looking for?
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
562
Seattle
Have you tried sitting in a room with physical people and actually, you know, collaborating? Phones switched off, door shut, caffeine handy? That meets all your criteria.
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Have you tried sitting in a room with physical people and actually, you know, collaborating? Phones switched off, door shut, caffeine handy? That meets all your criteria.

Have you tried sucking my dick? :rofl:

I really try to do as much in person as possible, but with two hours between myself and the person I'm working with, it's a pain in the ass for both of us. He's used to working in fields where this sort of thing is common, and the best way to do the work is with two people looking at it as it changes.

Collaboration software has been a thorn in my side since the term was coined. I get pissed the second it's even mentioned. :rofl:

If I can pull frames of a village over an isolated SAT link ten years ago, I ought to be able to connect to a dude two hours away with this kind of hardware without hassle.

It's this "cloud" bullshit that drives me crazy, in the end. Everything has to happen in the damned "cloud", which is no more than a yuppie term for using someone else's hardware. It doesn't help that no such software is adequately explained by the developer.

"Unprecedented work-flow!"

"Meet like you've never met before!"

"You WILL get laid, guaranteed!" Hell, that's what they may as well be saying, because their literature is about as useful as that.

I've got to run, but I'll respond to the others in a while. I already had this mostly typed.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Gotomeeting features a number of integrations and features that are not appropriate for the task.

These developers all want to put everything under one roof, rather than providing a simple, secure, and private method of communication as was available in the past. Skype for Business, once a half-decent option, began to integrate contacts whether you liked it or not.

Now it's Microsoft Teams, whatever the hell that is. Teams launches Slack, Slack launches Teams, they both launch everything else, and that works in reverse, as well. It's bullshit. That sort of thing should be custom-tailored for individual businesses.

I'm a long-standing Microsoft user, but Office is worthless now because they have to please everyone. Same goes for collaboration software. It's an unsustainable ecosystem that just adds complication to fast-paced and quick-pivoting business.

I'm breaking that industry with my next project if I don't relocate. I've had enough of this crap, and I'll damned well show everyone how it's supposed to be done.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

ERover82

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2011
3,899
450
Darien Gap
Does Excel offer many features we don?t use? Even some that are annoying? Sure, but others value those features and the rest of us ignore them and get on with it.
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Discord is working well enough. It's not perfect, but it's better at what it does than the "professional" solutions.

I'm going to try to use Steam for this, as well.

Cheers,

Kennith