Poll: Have you ever purchased software which turned out to be useless to you?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Jun 18, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever purchased software which turned out to be useless to you?".

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Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:05
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No, but... Jun 18, 2017

... some of the software I bought eventually became obsolete, unfortunately, and new versions were not made. I am talking namely about FreeSpeech, a speech recognition software by Philips which was amazing (over 15 years ago, I think).

 
Elena Aleksandrova
Elena Aleksandrova  Identity Verified
Bulgaria
Local time: 16:05
Member (2009)
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
No... Jun 18, 2017

... but I could manage without it.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:05
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jun 18, 2017

But I still remember fondly WordPerfect. If you were using a computer in the late 80s or early 90s you’ll know that WordPerfect was really the only word processing program worth using until Word rapidly took over the market. As far as I know the program is still being made, but its glory days are long gone…

 
Luiz Barucke
Luiz Barucke  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:05
Spanish to Portuguese
+ ...
Myself once Jun 18, 2017

I bought Wordfast Pro 3 license about 3 years ago because I really found it makes my work faster and easier. But for other software, such as Trados, Memsource and memoQ, I received licenses from my clients. And I've just received a Wordfast Pro (3 and 5, but don't like version 5) new license for the next 3 years as a "gift" from a client. In addition, I can make contributions to freeware developers as a recognition to really useful little tools, like TransTools and Lingoes for example.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 15:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes Jun 18, 2017

I used to have CD dictionaries and an old version of Systrans which worked quite well for me, but when Windows was upgraded to the 64-bit system, they wouldn't work on it. I then purchased a new version of Systrans, but from my point of view it was much worse than the old version, less user-friendly, so I ended up never using it... And the dictionary people (Oxford SuperLex and Routledge Business + Technical) didn't bring out 64-bit compatible versions, at least as far as I know.

A
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I used to have CD dictionaries and an old version of Systrans which worked quite well for me, but when Windows was upgraded to the 64-bit system, they wouldn't work on it. I then purchased a new version of Systrans, but from my point of view it was much worse than the old version, less user-friendly, so I ended up never using it... And the dictionary people (Oxford SuperLex and Routledge Business + Technical) didn't bring out 64-bit compatible versions, at least as far as I know.

As for the dictionaries, for a while I kept an old PC which I could use them on, but gradually ended up relying more and more on Google searches and online dictionary type resources...
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Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:05
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
No Jun 18, 2017

But a good proportion of the free or trial software I download is utterly useless.

 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:05
Member (2006)
German to English
Yes Jun 19, 2017

Windows - Why can´t Trados and Across run on a Mac? (Naturally, without Windows partition!)

 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:05
Czech to French
+ ...
Not purchased, Jun 19, 2017

thank God, but my computer is full of freeware that somebody insisted I must have or that I needed for a specific job and that I never use any more.

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Studio Jun 19, 2017

Studio. No surprise.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:05
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes, but not translation software Jun 19, 2017

I have purchased a few good packages that became useless simply because I didn't dedicate the time required to learn how to use it properly. Not translation software, though.
Some packages like "PDF to Word" and "Abby Fine Reader" became useless to me now that I have Adobe Pro and OmniPage, but they were pretty useful for a while.


 


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Poll: Have you ever purchased software which turned out to be useless to you?






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