Cisco make some damn nice products, but they also make some products that make my life hell. Here is my list.
Things Cisco does right:
Cisco Switches, Routers, and Access Points
Cisco switches, rouners and access points are amazing pieces of equipment. They have lots of features, fast, secure and easy to configure. All are simple to configure using IOS and most devices can be configured to do many tasks.
Cisco VoIP Devices
Cisco phones are easy to use, customizable, and support various backends. The range includes phone that can be configured for any task.
IOS
IOS has to be the best / most usable operating system for switches that I’ve seen. It has a small foot print allowing for low lag, yet is still feature packed. It’s a shame that there are still devices floating around not running IOS (eg voice gateways and old aironet devices).
Standards
If there is a need for a protocol or standard Cisco will make one to suit the need, which gets the market moving.
Things that Cisco should be banned from developing:
Client Software
Cisco makes the crappiest client software round at times. Why does their software phone have to act / feel like a real phone. Their software is typically hard to install, hard to use, and breaks easily.
Server Software
Just like the client software, Cisco server software is hard to install, hard to maintain and hard to use. The software usually installs several services, most without descriptions, contains lots of memory leaks, bugs and security flaws and breaks with OS updates.
Web Sites
Most of Cisco software and devices contain built in web servers for easy management. The menus are hard to use, and are designed purely for IE 6 running on Windows, and break if you use another browser. Cisco websites usually contain numerous exploits.
Even worse than their devices and software, Cisco’s own website struggles. While the look actually seems appealing, their site is impossible to navigate (thank the lord for Google). A simple task of finding a firmware is impossible without reading the “Navigating Cisco Website for Dummies” book. Old content has disappeared, pages full of broken links and missing files, and new content disappearing. Finding what devices / firmware support what SFPs is impossible.
Java
Any Cisco product that requires Java requires a specific version. I am required to be running 4 different versions of Java because of this. Java software is slow to use, and usually leaves me with no memory for other programs.
Drivers
If you have used an Aironet card, you’ll understand why. The GUI is hard to use and the software can get fairly confusing.
Standards
While Cisco will make a standard to fill a gap, it usually won’t disclose the standard to any other companies without large sums of money. This forces companies to make their own, creating compatibility issues between devices.
