Re: [pgadmin-support] Serious feedback and questions about thefuture of pgAdmin. - Mailing list pgadmin-support

On 11 June 2017 at 12:11,  <grekloedlc@tutanota.com> wrote:
> Dear pgAdmin developers,
>
> When I first heard that you were doing a total rewrite of pgAdmin III, I was
> extremely excited, because I had long been frustrated with the various
> annoyances and bugs in that program, which I was (and am still, actually)
> using daily, primarily how it always felt like a chore to start up and get
> ready unless the server was physically located near me.
>
> So when you eventually released the first public version of pgAdmin
> generation 4, I very eagerly downloaded it and tried it out. Unfortunately,
> to claim that I was "disappointed" isn't enough; I was frankly *appalled*. I
> will list the reasons in a moment, but I'd first like to point out that
> since then, I have repeatedly tried new versions of it, hoping to see
> improvements, but unfortunately finding all the same issues still present
> (as of v1.5, 2017-06-11, at the time of typing).
>
> Here are the critical issues:
>
> 1. Extreme sluggishness. Both the GUI itself, and the fetching of data from
> the server, is so slow and flimsy as to drive me insane even efter using it
> for less than a minute. I seriously get so angry that I kill the window in
> disgust. I'm not trying to be insulting or overly dramatic; this is just a
> fact. The software makes me angry due to how slow and unreliable it seems,
> and how prone it is to freeze (although it recovers after a while). This is
> on a *very* powerful and modern x86 workstation running a very "clean"
> (relative) Windows 10. All other programs are responsive and fast, except
> for pgAdmin 4. I really feel handicapped using it, in a way that's not at
> all the case with the old pgAdmin III, although even that one has mysterious
> fetch-delays that don't seem to correspond with the amount of data pulled
> through the network (SSH tunnel)...
>
> 2. It doesn't remember the empty password. It just keeps on asking, again
> and again, for the nonexistent password, even though I've checked the box to
> "remember" it a million times. This is infuriating to say the least.
>
> 3. Even worse so than the old program, pgAdmin 4 also doesn't seem to
> remember the "last state" at all, forcing me to slowly progress through the
> tree hierarchy each time I start it, waiting seconds each time I click
> anything. This makes me just let out a big sigh each time I have to manage
> my databases in any way, including making simple queries in a graphical
> environment. What should be instant becomes a huge chore. I cannot believe
> that it doesn't remember the "state" of the collapsed objects until the next
> time.
>
> In order to say something positive, I do appreciate the cross-platformness
> and apparently the ability for it to run in a browser, hosted on a server.
> (Although I personally don't trust it or any other software to do that
> safely.) Sadly, this has the serious downside of extremely poor performance,
> at least on Windows, to the point of making it practically impossible to
> use.
>
> I don't wanna sound as if I'm just telling you what a terrible job you've
> done. I realize that in spite of these serious flaws, a lot of work must
> have been plowed into this project, and it's unlikely that my complaints
> will really be taken to heart by the people who worked on it for so long,
> and for free, only to then get "insulted". I feel genuinely sorry and
> frustrated about the whole situation, and I'm now seriously wondering what
> to do with my "computer life" as it is heavily dependent on PostgreSQL as
> the basis. pgAdmin III is aging and pgAdmin 4 doesn't seem to be going
> anywhere, or changing in any major ways from its current state.
>
> What are the odds that you'll forget about pgAdmin 4 and instead go straight
> for a "pgAdmin V", taking everything you've learned but improving on it
> heavily? By the way, it is extremely common for developers to first do
> something great, then try to improve it, but failing entirely, instead
> producing a monster. For example: Winamp. There are many more cases, and it
> seems to happen again and again. It even happened to me! I was super proud
> of a product that was, to me, "vastly superior" to the old one, but the
> users absolutely hated it, and eventually, I had to realize that while
> technically better in some aspects, I had just done things "differently for
> the sake of doing them differently". I hope you'll understand me and that I
> really just want a great pgAdmin tool -- not to be mean.
>
> If you have anything promising to tell me in regards to any of this, I'd
> like to hear it. In the past, I've looked through the miserable
> "alternatives", so it's probably pointless to tell me about any of those,
> but if there is some sort of alternative that you know of, which is heavily
> polished and maintained and trusted and free of charge, it would definitely
> be interesting to me. However, I very much doubt that anything like that
> exists, and I doubt that this is the best place to ask for that. In fact,
> it's probably considered rude...
>
> // A long-time pgAdmin user who'd hate to see this crucial tool go the same
> way as so many other now-dead programs.