Software Review Questions

Question

If you were reading through software reviews based on questions, rating answers on a 1-5 scale, what kind of questions would you expect or like to see on the review?

Answer 1

On a scale of 1 to 5

1. extremely bad
2. bad
3. normal
4. good
5. extremely good

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How would you rate...

1. the interface?
2. the performance?
3. the functionality?
4. the workflow?
5. the objectives achieved?
6. the user experience?
7. the installation procedure?
8. the robustness?
9. the Tom-Dick-Harry appeal?
10. the Tom-Dick-Harry usage test?
11. the installation size?
12. the developers ability to respond quickly to a problem?
13. the support (official or unofficial) available on the Web, or through other channels?
14. the compatibility/portablity to other operating systems?
15. the degree of customization allowed?
16. (if you want to expand, expand on the functions breakdown of the software, e.g the performance of the compiling function, or the interface of the formatting toolbar.)

17. the ability to adapt to future situations?

    • many many many more - depends on what exactly do you want to find out.

Answer 2

I always get an empty feeling from those types of reviews. When reading through the results of a survey to evaluate an application, you never get to the essence of "...but is this a good application?"

It's like when you have an incredibly average so-so meal at a restaurant and you find one of those surveys on the table:

• Was your meal hot? Yes
• Did you receive a sufficient quantity of food? Yes
• Was your order filled accurately? Yes
• Was your server prompt and courteous? Yes

Great, I just gave them a 100% rating but the meal sucked and I will not return.

That's about as useful as "Is the application skinnable?" reviews.