Maybe for someone this U3 software is useful.
But for me it certainly wasn't. Useful wouldn't be on the list of words I would use to describe my interface with U3 software.
To explain: I bought a Kingston 1GB USB Flash Memory stick to put on my key chain. It was mostly to move files (mp3s mostly, but other stuff as well) between my machine at home and my work machine. I went for the Kingston since it was at least $10 cheaper than the other ones at Circuit City.
What did I get for my $10 savings? A nice little drive and some "smart" software from a company called U3.
The drive I like. The software? Not so much.
This morning I popped it in, and instead of it simply being recognized as a USB Mass Storage Device (what I expected), I was greeted with it installing a phantom CD Drive (in addition to the USB drive letter- yes it took two separate drive letters), nestling itself into the systray and launching this annoying piece of software:
Considering my expectations (a no-hassle USB drive just like every other one I've ever used), running into all of that crap was the digital equivalent of getting shit on by a pigeon- an unexpected and unwanted annoyance. Apparently I'm not alone, considering all the griping people are doing about the U3 software on Amazon (<= just a random page about another USB device with this "enhancement" installed.)
Mine and other's reactions to this software and the way that it fundamentally alters the interface with a pretty common device illustrates how radically deviating from user expectations can cause strong negative reactions.
Luckily I was able to uninstall the software easy enough, but if I'd known what I was up against beforehand I would have saved myself the hassle and gone with a regular non-enhanced USB drive (even if it cost a buck or two more as I hate the idea of somehow supporting such crappy software.) Which is kind of the point of this post- when buying a flash memory stick, stay far, far away from U3 infected devices. Unless you're into that sort of thing (whatever that thing actually is- I never really figured out what it's purpose was.) In which case, fun it up!