Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dataio.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!mhuxn!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!entropy!dataio!bjorn From: bjorn@dataio.UUCP (Bjorn Benson) Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: Software reviews (and Jerry Pournelle) Message-ID: <244@dataio.UUCP> Date: Fri, 7-Dec-84 14:15:19 EST Article-I.D.: dataio.244 Posted: Fri Dec 7 14:15:19 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 8-Dec-84 06:22:11 EST Organization: Data I/O Corp., Redmond WA Lines: 40 > A software review is very different from a product review... I do not see how a software review is different than a product review in this case: software is a product. Consumer Reports buys their products so that they can review what they want to, Jerry Pournelle looks in his In-Basket and reviews what he wants to -- the only difference being that one buys it and the other gets it free. > Software reviews are very similar to book reviews for the above reasons, > and Jerry Pournelle is doing exactly what every book reviewer does. Software reviews are similar to book reviews but not exactly the same: First, software is a good deal more expensive ($40 to $495) than books ($3 to $10). Second, sofware is used time and time again (for example, I use my editor everyday) whereas books are read once, and maybe a couple more times in the future (in general). Thus, the reviewer is getting a great deal more for writing a review of software than a review of a book, which brings up... > No one seems to think that a book reviewer is unduly influenced by being > given a free copy -- I don't see why there should be a fuss about software > reviewers acting the same way. And yes, I agree, for a single instance, a software reviewer does not give a biased viewpoint because he is a reviewer. But... (and this is my main argument) Jerry Pournell gets ALL his stuff free (or cheap) and has the executives and engineers from most of the major software companies fawning over him. This gives him a biased view of the industry, and this can not help but show up in his reviews. > ...and it would be very nice if BYTE had the budget to permit Pournelle to > buy several thousand dollars worth of software for each issue. Yes, it would be nice. But they can't, and so the editors should be very careful in checking that the reviews are unbiased and that the special status the employees of BYTE have do not unduly affect their articles. Bjorn Benson ..!uw-beaver!teltone!dataio!bjorn