Choosing Your 'Personal Best' Software and Hardware

摘要

If someone asks, "What's the best online database to search?" there's only one reasonable answer. "It depends." For that matter, the same answer applies to, "What's the best online search service?" or, "What's the best online consumer service?" Somehow though, when it comes to computer software and hardware, we all want "the best," and most comparative reviews tell us exactly what "the best" is. Surprisingly often, PC gurus are confident about the best of anything—the best printer, the best word processing program, the best PC. It's up to you to see past the glitter of Editors' Choices, Best Buys, and All-Star awards to the reality of computer software and hardware—no single "best" is right for everyone, any more than ABI/INFORM via RLG's Eureka is the ideal database and search system for all users and uses. We all love certainty. It makes life easy—one answer, one way to go. Many questions really do have a single answer. When did Abraham Lincoln die? Who was the 30th president of the United States? What's the atomic weight of uranium? What's the best image-editing program?