dung.
I just bought the Aeris dive computer downloading package and as a computer IV&V (Independent Verification and Validation) professional I have to say that this piece of software is quite possibly the largest piece of $150 crap that I have seen in commercial software since the mid 80's. Honestly - I have seen Junior High School students write better code in between their math and English classes.
1st - the hardware still uses an out-of-date serial (and parallel if you buy the other package) connector... has this company ever heard of USB or Firewire?
2nd - The synchronization failed the first time and left my computer in a state where all the LCD's were lit up and I couldn't get out of it by pressing any of the buttons on the console. It was very luckly that, being a software professional and not a computer novice, I knew that trying out the download a second time might clear this out; otherwise my first impression would have been to send the computer back to the manufacturer. What if this had happened just a day or two before my dive vacation? I have a feeling that someone (either the company or a techie that has had this problem before) will come back and say "I had the same problem and I just let the computer shut off and it fixed it"; first I don't know if that WOULD fix it however even if it does - it is no excuse. An application should NEVER leave a piece of hardware in an non-functional state.
3rd - Even after I was able to synch up with the computer and start downloading, I have had to download several times in series in order to get all of the dives to show up. This is not due to some limitation in the number of dives allowable to download in any one session - this is apparent because you can select all the dives you want to download and when you commence the actual procedure, it shows the dives as being downloaded. They just don't show up in the dive log.
4th - When the system displays the logs in the window that allows you to check off the dives you want to download, the times and dates are completely screwy (that's a TECHNICAL TERM BTW)... and do not match any of the dives I know are in the computer.
5th - Mystery dives.... some dives, which I KNOW I have never taken are showing up in the log. Most of these mystery dives show me going to 383 feet (NOT).
6th - The software interface itself is antiquated - was this written in Visual Basic 3?
7th - The dive graph. This feature is probably the most interesting part of the application. However - it is not without defects galore. For example.... I have several dives in which the graph shows me exceeding MAX ascent rate on a descent. Hmm. This makes me wonder if the software if defective or the actual dive computer is calculating and storing the wrong information.
All these defects make we wonder if the software in the actual dive computer itself isn't invalid.
However - I do trust that my depths are being displayed properly - mostly because all my dives end on the surface
following the dive profiles in my log. This - in and of itself - has been VERY educational. I can definitely see where I need to show some better dive planning - I go UP DOWN UP DOWN all over the place. Also - in case the computer accurately measured and recorded my ascent data, I did not violate my ascent rates as badly as I had suspected on the actual day of my dives.
I just bought the Aeris dive computer downloading package and as a computer IV&V (Independent Verification and Validation) professional I have to say that this piece of software is quite possibly the largest piece of $150 crap that I have seen in commercial software since the mid 80's. Honestly - I have seen Junior High School students write better code in between their math and English classes.
1st - the hardware still uses an out-of-date serial (and parallel if you buy the other package) connector... has this company ever heard of USB or Firewire?
2nd - The synchronization failed the first time and left my computer in a state where all the LCD's were lit up and I couldn't get out of it by pressing any of the buttons on the console. It was very luckly that, being a software professional and not a computer novice, I knew that trying out the download a second time might clear this out; otherwise my first impression would have been to send the computer back to the manufacturer. What if this had happened just a day or two before my dive vacation? I have a feeling that someone (either the company or a techie that has had this problem before) will come back and say "I had the same problem and I just let the computer shut off and it fixed it"; first I don't know if that WOULD fix it however even if it does - it is no excuse. An application should NEVER leave a piece of hardware in an non-functional state.
3rd - Even after I was able to synch up with the computer and start downloading, I have had to download several times in series in order to get all of the dives to show up. This is not due to some limitation in the number of dives allowable to download in any one session - this is apparent because you can select all the dives you want to download and when you commence the actual procedure, it shows the dives as being downloaded. They just don't show up in the dive log.
4th - When the system displays the logs in the window that allows you to check off the dives you want to download, the times and dates are completely screwy (that's a TECHNICAL TERM BTW)... and do not match any of the dives I know are in the computer.
5th - Mystery dives.... some dives, which I KNOW I have never taken are showing up in the log. Most of these mystery dives show me going to 383 feet (NOT).
6th - The software interface itself is antiquated - was this written in Visual Basic 3?
7th - The dive graph. This feature is probably the most interesting part of the application. However - it is not without defects galore. For example.... I have several dives in which the graph shows me exceeding MAX ascent rate on a descent. Hmm. This makes me wonder if the software if defective or the actual dive computer is calculating and storing the wrong information.
All these defects make we wonder if the software in the actual dive computer itself isn't invalid.
However - I do trust that my depths are being displayed properly - mostly because all my dives end on the surface
following the dive profiles in my log. This - in and of itself - has been VERY educational. I can definitely see where I need to show some better dive planning - I go UP DOWN UP DOWN all over the place. Also - in case the computer accurately measured and recorded my ascent data, I did not violate my ascent rates as badly as I had suspected on the actual day of my dives.
