Fortunately, 95% of Process Lasso reviews are VERY POSITIVE. That's great, and wonderfully inspiring.
However, checking user reviews isn't without its hazards. I take the few negative comments personally, and I've created enemies, somehow. I suspect its because I've negatively reviewed software in the past, under my own name. Who knows though.. For whatever reason, I do have people who come and negatively review every almost every release of my software. They either hate me, hate life, or like being trolls -- or maybe they just are convinced of their position and just aggressively asserting their belief. I don't know. UPDATE: I am happy to report that one of these people changed his tune, giving me renewed faith in humanity ;)
The other problem is negative reviews based on misunderstandings. I can't tell you how often I read a review where the person says something along the lines of "I didn't download this, but you can do that with the Windows task manager. What a rip off!". Yes, they obviously missed the point of Process Lasso, and assumed its just another task manager. That is an easy mistake to make, especially if you just take a quick glance at the name and screenshot without reading further. Most people just don't have the attention span to read a paragraph that explains the software's purpose. That's understandable.. there's a lot of text on the net.
Given that I tend to take negative reviews to heart, I have to limit my checking of reviews. I did so this week, so I won't again for at least 6 months. In the meantime, I'll be trying my best to deliver quality software. It sometimes frustrates me that I have to work so hard to create a prettier GUI because I'm not using .NET or some other RAD (Rapid Application Development) language, but its worth it in the long run (less RAM use) -- my core user base appreciates me coding in native C++, at least I think they do ;).
Anyway, to any other software developers out there. Here's my advice (as obvious at may be):
- NEVER post a negative review of someone else's software under your own name. Even if their software is a total gimmick (i.e. snake oil), and you feel compelled to reveal that fact. Don't do it. They will come back and negatively review your stuff ten times worse.
- NEVER create fake profiles (I never have). Also make sure any resellers don't do this. Sure, its tempting to correct misunderstandings, but its just not worth it. It calls into question all the legitimate positive reviews.
- NEVER respond to negative comments, it feeds trolls and makes it look like you are inflating your own rating. I find it hard to follow this advice, hence I don't even look at the reviews but once in a blue moon.
- NEVER listen to anyone complaining because your software isn't more free than it already is.
- NEVER let them get you down. Its easy to be a critic. Don't let the cynics and critics kill your inspiration. Again, I find it hard to follow this advice. I am out of patience for all the critics of the world, who complain about this and that - never creating anything themselves. I am NOT talking about people who make suggestions or CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, that's a different story. We all know the type of person I'm speaking of. As with anything in life, there are negative people out there, and either you tune them out, or they infect you with their negativity.
For whatever its worth... These things seem obvious, but I've had to learn the hard way.
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