> Why would the customer report a bug instead of switching to a less buggy product?
All products are buggy to varying degrees. As a user, you can't easily tell if another product is "less buggy". Would you risk investing time into figuring out another program that may turn out just as buggy? No. You most likely move on with your life.
Once users are invested into your product, it takes a lot to make them switch. Every single piece of software that I use regularly is either extremely simple or somewhat buggy. I haven't switched once because of it. It's a nuisance, but not a dealbreaker.
That's not to say that I like this situation, of course I would prefer software that doesn't have bugs and glitches, but I also prefer software that exists today, not tomorrow.
The market has spoken: worse is better.
> Why do you think the customers are going to report bugs?
If it's an important bug, somebody will most likely report it. If it's not an important bug, not having it reported is most likely not important either.
> I can't say that I've ever attempted to report a bug on an iPhone app, Windows, etc. It's like yelling at the wind.
So, did you switch to Android or Linux/MacOS then? Is the grass really greener on the other side?
The cynicism in this comment really bums me out. You think it's ok to give customers a buggy product, and expect them to report the bugs, because they don't really have a choice and every other product is buggy too. You say you don't like the situation, but you're doing nothing to challenge it either.
Is your motto "When life gives you lemons, make a market for lemons?"
Fair enough, it's arguably cynical to tell the children that Santa Claus isn't real. However, we're all adults here.
The highest-quality software can not win in the software market. This is evident from the software that is out there owning the market.
Quality is a trade-off, if you spend too many resources on it, you can not compete. Catching those last few bugs takes exponentially more effort.
Moreover, there are snake oil salesmen at every corner, telling you that if only you adopted some methodology, your defect rate would plummet. It's easy to get lost in that, not actually delivering a product.
Correct.
> Why would the customer report a bug instead of switching to a less buggy product?
All products are buggy to varying degrees. As a user, you can't easily tell if another product is "less buggy". Would you risk investing time into figuring out another program that may turn out just as buggy? No. You most likely move on with your life.
Once users are invested into your product, it takes a lot to make them switch. Every single piece of software that I use regularly is either extremely simple or somewhat buggy. I haven't switched once because of it. It's a nuisance, but not a dealbreaker.
That's not to say that I like this situation, of course I would prefer software that doesn't have bugs and glitches, but I also prefer software that exists today, not tomorrow. The market has spoken: worse is better.
> Why do you think the customers are going to report bugs?
If it's an important bug, somebody will most likely report it. If it's not an important bug, not having it reported is most likely not important either.
> I can't say that I've ever attempted to report a bug on an iPhone app, Windows, etc. It's like yelling at the wind.
So, did you switch to Android or Linux/MacOS then? Is the grass really greener on the other side?