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From: engelke@uf-csv.UUCP (charles engelke [fac])
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Software reviews (and Jerry Pournelle)
Message-ID: <148@uf-csv.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Dec-84 09:06:09 EST
Article-I.D.: uf-csv.148
Posted: Tue Dec  4 09:06:09 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Dec-84 02:08:08 EST
Organization: Univ of Fla, Computer and Information Science
Lines: 40

>I will not cut it out already!  My biggest complaint about him and his 
>column is the way he reviews software and hardware that he is given 
>free.  Respectable magazines (and to my knowledge BYTE is included) 
>buy, or accept just as a loaner, things that they review.  For 
>example, Consumer Reports acts just like an average consumer, and 
>Car and Driver doesn't get to keep all those cars they test do they?
>
>				Bjorn Benson
>				..!uw-beaver!teltone!dataio!bjorn

     A software review is very different from a product review.  I'm sure
that Consumer Reports has a lot of reasons for the way they get their test
samples, but one of the most important is that by buying the products
themselves they are more likely to get a representative product rather 
than a specially built model just for them.  Another reason is that they 
get to review the products _they_ want to review, rather than the products
that the manufacturers want them to review.  (The loaner cars Car and Driver
accepts don't satify either reason.)

     The first reason does not usually apply to software.  One copy of Wordstar
is the same as another  (the exception is when the review copy is an early,
unreleased version).  There is no need to get the software independently.

     The second reason _does_ apply to software, of course, 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.  Since they don't, we just have
to live with the consequences, which are not too severe in this case.  I'm
willing to bet that Jerry Pournelle and BYTE can get review copies of 
whatever they want just by asking.

     Software reviews are very similar to book reviews for the above reasons,
and Jerry Pournelle is doing exactly what every book reviewer does.  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.

Charles Engelke
UUCP: ..!akgua!uf-csv!engelke
CSNET: engelke@ufl