www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Just wondering really.

A while ago, I had to format the hard drive, put everything back on (so I thought) then found I had nothing for my Fuji finepix camera.
PC said device connected, clicked on it, opened device saw folder clicked on that, hey presto, I can see all pictures on the SD card in the camera, I can copy from camera to PC (same as always) so it seems to me that the Fuji Finepix software was a waste of time.

So my question is, am I missing the point, or do you think the s/w was a waste of time, and has anything similar happened to you, in that you found you do not need this special s/w for that device. (What ever that device happens to be)

I have an old Fuji camera which gets used now and again for odd-jobs, I can view and download the pictures from that using a card reader and the software for my Canon camera.

The Fuji s/w is still on the PC somewhere, but the Canon programme opens up as soon as I bung a card reader in a USB slot.

Most computers these days, automatically detect when something's connected to it and usually ask what you want to do. When I put an SD card in mine, it asks what I want to do with the files on it. Most camera manufacturers will want you to use their own software. Some years ago I bought an Olympus digital camera (first one I'd ever owned) and of course Olympus wanted me to install their software, which I did. I found a few days later that this software saved files to a location within their program which wasn't easy to access unless the camera was connected. (as opposed to saving them in the C/ user/documents/pictures folder.

It's great that lots of stuff behaves like a memory card (mass storage device), which means it doesn't NEED other software to make it work, unlike days of old.

Do you NEED the software? Hmmm, depends.

Take a scanner/printer for example. You could plug it in, install the drivers and scan straight into a document or some bit of software that supports that kind of input.

What does the software offer?? Document reading (OCR) to scan letters and turn them into documents. Greater control over the quality. Diagnostic tools maybe. Update tools for the software. Maybe it's got links to an online shop to replenish your ink when it's low or perhaps the software ties into a professional print shop to order your prints on a poster.

Same with my fancy mouse. Plug it in - bosh, working mouse. Install the software and I can configure the buttons for custom applications, key combos to open my favorite whatsit, swipe gestures.

Some of it is handy, some of it is there to make them more money and to get your buy in as a customer to the brand and services. You'll find that lots of stuff comes with the cheaper models. They make very little on the unit and rely on your money trickling in later as downstream revenue from partners and their additions, these are often the bits you pay for once you've had a taste.

It's a bit like the trails you get. The big boys (usually) get very little for installing them. You like it, you buy it and they get a referral fee for each activated product.

So, depends really.......

A lot of the discs that you get with things are a bit pointless, my favourite is broadband installation discs, if you installed every disc that came with every item then your pc would probably run a lot slower.