- Family member has 720p webcam
- Family member buys shiny new 1080p webcam
- Family member plugs in shiny new webcam and gives me a videocall to test it
- New camera works flawlessly. I get to keep the old 720p cam. Yippee!!
...BUT THEN
- Family member goes to the website listed on camera's packaging and clicks the big blue download button
- download button installs custom usb driver and companion app
- companion app has twenty quadrillion toggles and dials spread across fifty billion tabs and sub menus. Family member spends all evening twiddling with it.
- No matter what, the image looks like crap. Too bright, but not enough contrast. Worse than it did originally.
- next day family member asks for his old 720p webcam back, I get to keep the 1080p webcam
I'm happy with my new webcam so I'm not complaining, but why do people do this?? Why do manufacturers make these shitty custom driver? The whole point of USB is to be plug-and-play without any custom software.
Not mentioned:
And that's the real reason they do it. They lure unsuspecting users in with promises of enhanced functionality, but it's all a ploy to get their data.
Comes with an EULA longer than Ron Jeremy and twice as invasive
Most of it likely isn't even legally binding. But who has the time, energy, and capitol to hire a lawyer to challenge it?
The longer it is, the less likely the user is to actually read it and object to it.
I am stealing that line! Clever!
That part I could have guessed, but why manufacturer driver is worse than generic... wait, for it to be better it has to be coded better. Mystery solved, I guess