Operating System Software Review Guide Lines

Recently, some sharp criticism has been displayed against the OS reviews posted on OSAlert by third parties. In an effort to make the reviews more substantial, I have put together some guidelines in addition to the generic guidelines OSAlert already provides for the readers who want to have their voices heard on this site.I do not want the guidelines to be taken as rules but as a guide to a well structured review. No one
will be forced to use these guide lines. The more material the author of the review provides the more informed the reader will be in trying out the reviewed product. Suggestions are encouraged to make this guide
lines document better.


Operating System or Ditribution Review Guide Lines


Document version: 0.01


Experience of Reviewer
Describe the level of experience you have had with computers.
a) Novice. Very little experience with computers. Possibly just
bought a computer in the last six months. Never installed an operating
system before.
b) Intermediate. Use computers at work. Have owned a computer for
more than six months but less than two years. Installed programs but not
an operating system.
c) Expert. Have used several different operating systems. Have owned
a computer for more than two years. Possibly own more than one
computer. Possibly a software developer or system administrator.


The Computer Hardware
Description of the computer the operating system or distribution is on.
a) Maker and model number or
b) Specific items such as CPU, amount of RAM, video card, sound card, keyboard and mouse {PS2 or USB}, and the size of hard drive.


Operating System or Distribution Install
Maker, name and version of the operating system or distribution. Was the operating system already installed or did you install it?
If you installed it,
a) Did you do a typical or custom install?
b) Partition the hard drive?
c) Was all hardware detected?
d) How much space did the software installed take up on the hard drive? Did the installer give you that number?
e) How long did the install take?
f) Were there any problems?


Software Installed
List some of the software that was installed either by default or
through the custom install. If a piece of software that you use regularly
was not installed by default or you could not install it from the CDs,
please make a note of those as well.
a) Internet software such as email, ftp, web browser, and instant
messaging
b) Office type software such as office suites, text editors, graphics,
and faxing.
c) Entertainment software such as music, video, and games.
d) Specialty software such as system utilities, network utilities,
software development, and web development .


Daily Use
Give an overview of how the operating system or distribution performed on a daily bases.
a) How responsive was the operating system and software? How powerful the OS is? What can it do and what can’t it?
b) Did you install extra software off the CD, from the Internet? How
easy was it?
c) Is there a software update feature?
d) Is there documentation? How well written is it?
e) How stable, fast, easy to use, bug-free the OS is? Make sure you write all the good points of the product, as well as its bad points, objectively.


Reviewer’s Opinion
Compare this operating system or distribution to any or all of the competing products you have used before.
a) Likes
b) Dislikes
c) Over All Rating or Opinion


Finally, spellcheck and proof read your article!


As always, OSAlert would like to hear from you and publish your articles. More community activity to this site is always a good thing!

24 Comments

  1. 2003-03-31 12:10 am
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  23. 2003-03-31 8:51 pm
  24. 2003-04-01 12:53 am