From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!duke!mcnc!unc!bch Newsgroups: net.micro Title: Re: Consumer Reports wants Users Article-I.D.: unc.3701 Posted: Thu Jul 15 17:06:17 1982 Received: Mon Jul 19 03:58:01 1982 References: sri-unix.2089 As a long-time member of Consumers Union I carefully considered whether I should send in for a questionnaire or not. I decided not. The purpose (and most important function) of Consumer Reports is the evaluation of products as consumer items. As such, expert testimony (the kind I assume most people on the net would give) is probably misleading. What they are interested in is the useability, not the capability, of machines. IF IBM 3081s were sold for the price of Apples, for example, the 3081 would be downrated for its complexity and quality of documentation in the view of CU. As I would not buy a car on the basis of a compendium of answers from expert mechanics or race-drivers (remember they do their own repairs) or audio equipment on the basis of the opinions of recording studio engineers, If I were a novice interested in personal computing I would certainly not buy a machine based on the opinions of high-end users -- myself included. What I would want to know is whether or not I could use it as a beginner and whether or not it came doing the things I wanted it to do. Given the state of the art in ergonometric design of most personal computers I doubt that the testimony of many readers here would be useful, and might be disastrously misleading to a novice. How many here would feel positive about the TRS-80? Yet Tandy has done as good a job as any in introducing consumers to personal computers in a positive way. Byron Howes University of North Carolina