Why do the top two computer mags disagree so often??

[truereplica]

If you have never subscribed to a computer
magazine maybe I can save you a little pain and
suffering. Here's my advice. Pick one and never
read any of the others for the rest of your natural life!

I once subscribed to four. Reading all became
such a burden I'm down to only two, the top two.
That would be PC Magazine and PC World. Please
folks, I'm not saying they are the best. I don't
know or care what the "best" computer mag is.
They are the most widely read, and that makes
what they print very influential. Sort of like the
Broadway show critic in the New York Times. A
good review and the show makes millions. A bad
review and the show closes. PC Magazine and PC
World have the same make or break effect on
software. What they say can sink an app or make
it's creator(s) very rich.

Here's a recent example of why you should never
read more than one computer mag. The August 9,
2005 edtion of PC Magazine gives Spyware Doctor
it's "editors' choice" award. The November 2005
edition of PC World has Spyware Doctor listed at
number three. Saying stuff like "failed to excel
in any area." There must be thousands of examples
similar to this one going back several years.

I understand that software creators try to make
incremental improvements with each new version.
If you spoke to the people who do the testing
they might say that two or three months in the
life of app can make a world of difference if
there are dramatic improvements. OK, I'll go
along with that. The sixty-four million dollar
question is, where does that leave the reader
who has to make sense of all this crap?

Ever read any kind of technical trade publication.
I don't care if its engineering, architecture,
medicine, etc. The one word I see over and over
in many trade magazines is "guess." Meaning that
detecting viruses or spyware is really just a
shot-in-the-dark done by very smart and well
educated people. When you combine that with the
"blood in the water" shark-like hunt for advertis-
ing dollars you create a real witches brew!

Many years ago I worked for a very respected
magazine. Much to my surprise (I was very young)
they published several lengthy articles I wrote
over the course of one year. At the end of that
year I quit. Each time they published something
I wrote I noticed dozens of minor, but significant
changes. After awhile I realized that anything
that might even accidentally offend a major ad
client was deleted or changed.

I feel like ending this post with a good, healthy
curse or two. I won't do it because I don't want
to offend any of you!

By the way, you might wonder why I didn't post
this message on one of the major computer forums.
The answer might seem a little strange. I didn't
want to read a reply from anyone in the top ranks
of the computer mag business. Many times I've
posted at these super sized forums and received
replies or even personal e-mails from important
ladies and gentlemen who make six and seven figure
salaries working for these mags or their ad clients.
Their replies always sound like they were created
by a professional ghost writer. Boring, meaningless,
rubbish!

truereplica

<small>[ October 31, 2005, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: truereplica ]</small>

[jwax]

On a more relavant note, I can't wait to hear you critique "Nuts and Volts".

[Rodney]

I would have to dissagree with the first post. I find that more than one view on a topic is very enlightning. You have to ask yourself "why?" is there a difference of opinion. What is that particular writer's background or job as that can influence his/her opinion. Just because it doesn't always agree with yours/mine doesn't mean that it is wrong or incorrect, just that one or both of us do not have the full range of knowledge or experience to completely evaluted the problem.

[Chris Smith]

I look at the mistakes they make in print as Job security.

Soo many listen to this stuff, and when the Sh*t hits the fan, I have more work and job security, and its not even my fault!

Some here at the computer forum have recommended some brands of anti virus soft ware, glowingly.

I always tell my customers "you get what you pay for" and anything free is worth exactly what you paid for it.

Many repairs come my way because other listen to those who don’t work in the business. I don’t mind. But I never contradict them out loud because who knows, they might be my next customer?

I stick to the tried and true and drop anything that doesn’t work.

I always tell the customer the truth, but only when they ask.

If you want to know, ask some one who has been there and done that and leave the reviews to the book sellers. They have their ethics too, and its always about money.

[Newz2000]

Back around the beginning of 2004 Microsoft and RedHat each released white papers around the same time. In each case, the white papers reported the findings of an independent lab doing research over several months.

One white paper showed that Microsoft Windows had the lowest cost of ownership for servers.

The other white paper showed that RedHat Liux had the lowest cost of ownership for servers.

The correct answer is that both are good and each have areas where they shine. However, those doing the reviews were either biased toward the one who hired them and/or limited the scope of the research to an area where the product they researched was known to perform well (for example, network filesharing to windows computers for MS Windows, Internet web/email serving for RH Linux).

[Mike]

Personally, I think that the computer magazines are why so many computer-illiterate people have so many problems with computers. They buy almost any computer magazine hoping to get answers to their problems, but I can't even count how often I see incorrect info published in both of them. I used to subscribe to both pc world and pc magazine but have now cancelled both subscriptions, after being sick of wasting money on false or incomplete information, or the authors trying to sound like they know what they are doing by turning a simple 10 minute fix into a three hour fix, because they do not know the simple and better way of doing things.

Plus, all you ever see reviewed in those magazines are crappy HP, Gateway, Dell, etc. computers, and they somehow manage to give them good ratings that they do not deserve. This hurts businesses like mine building custom systems, because somebody sees a review of an HP, buys one, then the thing breaks down every month. But since PC Magazine said it was good, its gotta be good, right? WRONG.

My suggestion would be to just cancel subscriptions to any magazine like that. They publish the same things a million times (for example I dont know how many Build Your Own Computer tutorials I've seen in the same magazine), they focus on low-end products, and for the most parts the writers barely even know what they are talking about.

[dr_when]

I have a feeling that Ziff-Davis and other publishers on constantly on-the-take and often get substantial kick backs if their editorials are biased in one direction or another. It's difficult to find a truly "independant" test lab that offers really unbiased results, IMHO.

[philba]

I think these mags honestly try to provide good information and seriously doubt there is a quid-pro-quo going on. I do think there is a tendancy to soften criticism of big advertisers.

In the old days (pre-bubble), their reviews were pretty good, they had some good journalists and their ratings meant something. Their evaluation criteria was clearly described. these days, the software and hardware are increasingly complex so it becomes a challenge to actually understand enough to write about it.

My biggest gripe is about their reviews of late. For example their printer reviews seem really far off the mark. Read the user's comments and you will often see printers that get stellar ratings getting a significant number of complaints. Also, they do a lousy job of explaining cost of printer ownership. I think this is advertising driven. HPs always get a good ratings/reviews but are rediculously expensive to own. My canon got ok ratings but it is much easier to refill the ink tanks and my cost of ownership is 1/4 or less my previous HP (which died after 10 months). This is something I figured out by reading postings on various forums. I doubt many would be as diligent as I was when I bought my printer.

[Mike]

yes, i agree, HPs are expensive

personally i prefer Canon, but their printheads are very expensive, and when one goes, its better to just buy a new printer.

HPs have the printhead in the cartridge which jacks the price up per cartridge, but gets rid of annoyances with clogged printheads. The only bad thing about HP that makes Canon my preference is the lack of individual cartidges. I also own a Canon BJC-8200 with 6 cartridges. Its nice not to, for example, trash a half tank of blue when i only need yellow.

I used to like my Canon S300 printer and it worked very well for the 3-4 years i owned it, but its black and yellow printhead clogged and no matter what i do i cant get it open. And theres no point in dropping 80 bucks on a printhead for a 4-year old printer when new printers are half that price.

Now I have replaced my S300, and I went with an HP for the simple reason of me getting it free. I wound up with an HP PSC 2410 photosmart. I must say its very easy to use, and its LCD and memory card slots make it easy to print borderless 4x6 pics without a computer or a paper cutter to trim it to the right size. I find it very easy to do and the prints come out nice. But at $20 for a recycled photo cartridge and $18 for a recycled color cartridge, its rather expensive compared to the $4 i would pay for black ink and $10 for color in my canon.

[Chris Smith]

With cannon ink I can actually make a profit and save the customer mega bucks.

$2.50 a tank and I sell them for $10 which includes shipping and handling. [4 bucks off retail]

With HP, there is NO profit and the customer still feels "bent over" even If I sell them at cost.

What was the saying about Ink from HP, oh yeah, gold and Dom Perignon 55 is cheaper.