Accentuating the positive doesn't make products better.
Stephen Manes, PC World
It's guaranteed: whenever I say mean things about some third-rate bloatware that doesn't remotely live up to its hype--like, say, Windows Vista--I get a batch of e-mail berating me for being negative. And I'm not the only one: In online forums, fans of whatever item is under the microscope enjoy dissing "whiners" who pick apart the failings in products and services, from high-end hotels to nose-hair trimmers.
Sorry, Pollyannas, but you're missing the point. To borrow a phrase from Spiro Agnew's speechwriters, nattering nabobs of negativism--including professional complainers like me and savvy online amateurs--are all that keep us from a world where marketing and public-relations messages are the only ones that matter.
Vendors often give professional reviewers access to new products and services before their release, but many companies have adopted the clever strategy of announcing products long before they actually exist. The idea is to garner plenty of positive buzz before negative hands-on reviews can show up. When you read a report that "this slim device delivers driving directions throughout the U.S." without any evidence that the writer tried it, you can be sure that this bland information came directly from the company's literature. Only later will you learn that the unit takes forever to lock on to the satellite signals, is unreadable on sunny days, eats batteries, and takes a perverse pleasure in sending you the wrong way down one-way streets.
Hands-on experience is the difference between information and hype. Those of us who test products for a living often hear from vendors who don't like it when we point out the drawbacks of what they sell. But is Microsoft going to take out full-page ads to proclaim "Lots of incompatibilities remain"? Is your cellular provider going to erect a billboard trumpeting "New phone: Minor improvement, if that!" or "Entering dropped-call zone"?
And the Internet's ability to give every frustrated customer a soapbox has ushered in a Golden Age of Negativity--for which I am supremely grateful. When a recent Windows update led my audio software to deliver an error message every time my machine booted up, a ticked-off Slashdot post from another victim of the same glitch pointed the way to a fix. When you google an error message, the solution often comes from some sadder but wiser user rather than the offending company's support database.
Before I go on vacation, I head straight to TripAdvisor for the truth about the hotel room that's too small to turn around in or the "luxury resort" whose renovation means jackhammers at 6 a.m. Before shelling out for home theater components, I turn to AVS Forum to see what the unhappiest buyers are saying about devices whose HDMI connectors don't always connect. Before I buy a car, I seek out the least-satisfied customers I can find on sites like Edmunds.com to flesh out my worst-case scenarios.
Amazon.com customers who bestow five-star ratings on tech products can be worth reading, but first I want the no- and one-star reviews. Sometimes they come from outright cranks, but more often they're written by experts who snicker at the glowing notices from novices who think "640 by 480" is tech talk for high resolution--and then point out the flaws the newbies missed.
Everyone wants high-quality, high-value products and services. The truth is, you don't discover and encourage them by dwelling on the bright side.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/132073-1/article.html
