I've been editing technology product reviews since 1988. Over the last 16 years, I've seen a lot of dumb ideas and many products that suffered from flawed execution. But only recently have I found some applications that are downright insulting.

I don't know what's going on. Maybe I'm getting sensitive in my old age. Or maybe hardware and software manufacturers are drifting so far from their users that they inadvertently insult them, the way you might if you committed some cultural faux pas in a foreign country.

Or maybe vendors think they're going to sell so many products, they can afford to alienate a few users. Regardless, here are the products that have raised my hackles. Are their manufacturers malicious, greedy, or just dumb? Or is it me? You be the judge.

Insult No. 1: Planned financial obsolescence
I was about to upgrade my Quicken software to the newest 2005 version when I found out that this release no longer supports QIF, the Quicken Interchange Format for file transfers. Financial institutions have been using this format to package their data for Quicken--so that, say, you can download data about your monthly 401(k) earnings from your brokerage house into your software. There's a newer format, QFX, that Intuit has been trying to convert people to for a few years, but there are still many financial institutions--such as the company that runs my 401(k)--that haven't made the switch.

Intuit says companies have had plenty of warning and that QIF is not robust, so discontinuing support of it is a benefit to consumers. How's that? QIF works just great in Quicken 2002, which I currently use. It's certainly more robust than copying data from my 401(k) manager's Web site into Quicken by hand, which is what I will have to do if I upgrade to the 2005 version.

I cede the point that QFX is technically superior to QIF, but I'm not about to have an argument with my 401(k) company about its file formats. Intuit didn't do a complete job transitioning its institutional base to the new format, and now the company is making its customers pay for this failure.

If that's not bad enough, soon I may not have a choice about upgrading and will be forced into a version that doesn't support QIF--Intuit doesn't support all versions of Quicken forever. Eventually, I'll find that stock prices and other data won't automatically get updated in Quicken 2002. Then I'll have to update and take the requisite step backward in functionality. Tell me--how is this better for me?

Insult No. 2: Bringing new meaning to "my computer crashed"
I'm a huge fan of navigation systems. My next car will have one for sure. Until then, I am using TomTom's software and GPS sensor with an old iPaq when I drive someplace new. (The company also makes a cool standalone product.) It works great--it has voice prompts so that I don't have to look at the screen when I'm driving, and it automatically reroutes me if I make a wrong turn.

I'm also a big fan of Microsoft's Streets & Trips application. I find it easier and faster to use that any online mapping site (for example, MapQuest) when I'm planning trips. Recently, Microsoft released a 2005 version of Streets & Trips with a bundled GPS receiver for the perfect marriage--in concept. The idea with this version is that you plug the GPS gizmo into your laptop and run the software on it as a real-time navigation aid.

But to do so is to invite disaster. Streets & Trips 2005 can get data from a GPS sensor, but it has no voice prompts, and if you make a wrong turn, forget it--it won't reroute you from where you are. And you cannot safely watch and control a mouse-based laptop computer while you're driving. The GPS system is, in other words, completely useless as a navigation system, except by your passengers.

The software-plus-sensor bundle is just an insult to buyers' intelligence. Fortunately the software-only product is still a great trip-planning tool, and it costs $70 less.

Insult No. 3: Fast and easy is bad; slow and expensive is good
Verizon recently released its first Bluetooth phone, the Motorola V710 camera phone. Verizon customers rejoiced--they've been waiting for a phone that would let them use Bluetooth headsets or interface with their new cars or make it easy to wirelessly sync contacts with their PCs or transfer their photos to the computer.

Sorry, guess again. The only Bluetooth thing the V710 will do is work with a headset. A friend of mine spent all day trying to get his PC's contact book transferred over to his V710 via Bluetooth and couldn't. Why not? Because Verizon is shipping the V710 with its data-transfer capabilities disabled.

That means no phone-book sync and, worse, no easy transfer of your camera phone's pictures to your PC. You'll have to use Verizon's paid picture-messaging service instead, which is not only expensive, it's much slower than a direct phone-to-PC transfer.

We know Motorola can build good Bluetooth functionality into its phones because we tested the V600. Shame on Verizon for shipping this crippled phone and wasting the time and goodwill of its customers.

Update: The new RIM BlackBerry 7100t, which works on the T-Mobile network, has similarly crippled Bluetooth functionality. What is wrong with these people?

Insult No. 4: Digital audio transfers but one way only
I saved the worst for last. Never before have I been so insulted by a piece of technology as I am by my wife's MiniDisc recorder, the Sony MZ-N707.

Jennifer is a musician and wanted a high-quality audio recorder for her practice sessions. She bought the MZ-N707, which has a USB digital connection to PCs, thinking she'd be able to take her pristine digital recordings from the MZ-N707 and transfer them to her PC for archiving and study.

If only--while you can copy music to an MZ-N707 with its USB cable, you cannot, under any circumstances, copy music from an MZ-N707, even if the music in question is performed by you, in your own home, with your own microphone, for your own private use. You have to use a lower-quality analog transfer, which kills the whole point of being able to make digital recordings in the first place.

Sony's lawyers are likely to blame for this one; I can't imagine that any product manager in his or her right mind would intentionally build a fantastic digital recording machine that outputs its files in only analog. But there you have it.

And if that weren't enough to make me want to throw the product out the window, try this: I buttonholed a Sony exec about this failing several months ago, and she told me they were addressing this issue. Cool, I thought, I can upgrade the recorder. No dice. The fix: Buy one of the new MD recorders that has full digital out.

I don't think so.

"Moving day" update
In my last column, I ranted about the trouble it takes to move applications between PCs. We shouldn't need them, but there are actually programs that will do this for you, including Spearit's Move Me, Eisenworld's PC Relocator, and LapLink's PCmover.

Whew! I feel better now. Join in, it's cathartic: What products have insulted you? TalkBack below!