You see, many of the people who read the review were upset because Calvin did not explicitly state in the review that he is a Palm employee. Several people felt that he was reviewing a competitor's product and giving it a poor review to make Palm look better. Calvin was not reviewing the unit on behalf of Palm, using Palm market positions. He himself points out that it is in Palm's best interest for Palm OS licensees like Handspring to succeed. Other Palm employees speak of Handspring when discussing Palm devices, generally in a positive light.
The question is, did Calvin lose his objectivity when he started working for Palm? Does working for Palm disqualify him from sharing his very informed and respected opinions with the rest of us? I think the answer is no to both. Calvin did not lose his identity as Palm guru just because he now works for Palm. He is still capable of objectively evaluating new units, software, and accessories whether they are made by Palm or someone else.
If everyone in the Palm community refrained from reviewing products because they know the manufacturer or the developer or because they work for someone who may have an interest in one or more products, nothing would ever get reviewed. The active Palm community is small enough that most of us know each other. Or, at worst, know someone who knows someone. Many of us hang out on the same IRC channel. We belong to the same mailing lists and newsgroups. We go to the same trade shows. We go to user group meetings with the same speakers and we discuss new products among ourselves. We all know developers. We all know accessory manufacturers. Even if we don't work for palm or TRG or Handspring, we all know and talk to people who do.
I beta test a lot of software. Some of it I review. Sometimes the beta testing is merely a giant bug hunt, but more often it involves suggesting design enhancements and additional functionality. If my suggestions are encorporated into the product, I probably will like the end result. Does this mean I only give glowing reviews to products I beta test? Absolutely not. I try to point out those things I don't like as well as additional enhancements that would make the program better regardless of whether I beta tested the product or not. And regardless of whether I beta tested the product or not, I send my suggestions to the developer of the product. I treat the reviews of all products the same way. If anything, I know the products I beta tested better than other products so you get a better review.
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