Samsung's Driver Search Page

The 17" flatscreen monitor I got with my Dell desktop back in 2003 finally died a month ago. So I bought myself a 21.5" Samsung SyncMaster EX2220. I've been using it for a few weeks without having installed any special drivers, but today I noticed a flickering/shimmering effect in some areas of the screen. After some investigation, I thought perhaps I should install the proper drivers so I could up the refresh rate and see if the problem might go away.

I went to the Samsung Website, and was immediately assaulted by a "We'd like your feedback" popup.



After dismissing it, I typed in "EX2220" in the search box, and reached a page which had the promising title "Looking for a Download?" and a list of drivers.



However, none of the links listed had anything to do with EX2220 (at least nothing obvious). I clicked through the first few pages of links, and still came up empty handed.

Then I tried the dropdown list controls in the "Select your model" box. The first selection was easy -- I have a Monitor.



But then I was stymied with the choices for Product Subtype -- Essential, Business, Premium, Professional, Specialty -- none of these made much sense for my monitor. I bought it at Costco for home (and work-from-home) use. I looked over the entire Monitor, front, back, underneath -- nowhere were any of these terms used. I went to the garage and looked all over the box. Still, nothing.

So, I did the hardest possible thing which was to, one-by-one, check each and every one of the lists. No matter which Product Subtype I chose, none of the Product Model lists showed my model number. Finally I noticed that when I chose "Essential", the Product Model list showed an entry for "21.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor".



I then clicked "Find Download". At which point I got to this screen:



...with no results.

I then looked through the contents of the CD and was able to find the appropriate driver. So much for the convenience of the web!

What is 'Broked'?

This is a blog all about broken broked software. I build software and web applications for a living, and I pride myself on good user interface and user experience-- when I have time, inspiration and freedom. Throughout my career I have developed a sense of when something about the use of the software is.... not quite right. I've often tweeted about broken software (the first time I tweeted "broked" by accident and it stuck), hoping that just maybe Microsoft or Mozilla or Google or Apple or whoever's app I am complaining about just might notice they have a problem.

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while as a more thorough way to explore these problems. I am nearly done earning my Bachelor's degree in Computing and Software Systems, and had hoped to have a bit more time once I'd graduated to do some blogging. However, opportunity has struck early. I am taking a course in Software Testing. As part of the course, our professor is having us create a portfolio displaying our work in some way. It can be in any form. So, what better form than a blog, and one I had intended on writing? Now I can get a head start.

Who might be interested in reading this blog (besides my professor)? First, myself-- I know writing helps me organize my thoughts, and the more I can find, diagnose, and suggest fixes for problems in other people's software, the more easily I can find them in my own. Second, other software developers, who are interested in thinking through similar problems in their own apps. Third and finally, hopefully those developers responsible for the software I complain about might stumble onto this blog and find some helpful suggestions.

What will you find in this blog? I envision a typical post focusing on one software application (web or installed), walking through description of a problem, and then if possible, describing a solution. I'll try to keep it respectful and realistic, because I know there is never time, inspiration, or freedom available to fix everything.

I hope that someone out there (besides my professor) finds this interesting and helpful. Enjoy!