Satisfaction Guaranteed

So I’ve been using the NetBeans IDE v6 to do some Java development. I’ve been pretty happy with it so far. It has a nice set of project templates. It allows you to run and test web apps directly and at $0 dollars you can’t beat the price.

I loaded the application today and here is what I was greeted with:

Now, I suppose you could make the case that since it’s a free application, I should be obliged to take their survey, but I don’t recall agreeing to that. Just like most people, I didn’t read the license agreement so maybe I did agree to it, but what’s funny is that they want me to express my satisfaction with an application that has, for the first time since I started using it mind you, done that which is one of the most likely ways to cause dissatisfaction. They gave me two options and neither of them are useful to me.

Netbeans is cross-platform which means you’re going to have some hold-over ideas from other platforms, namely Windows. Since I work on a Mac, this also seemed very unfamiliar. Mac apps don’t bother you with stupid dialog boxes (that often) and when they do, they normally give you a way out. This dialog does not.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think a third option that says “No thanks. I don’t ever want to take a survey”, or even simply “Cancel” would suffice for the moment. That’s basically what “Remind Later” does, but when labeled that way, I realize that I should deal with this in a permanent way in order to be left alone, but the only permanent way is to choose the other option, “Go To Survey”. Now, I realize I don’t have to take the survey once I’m at the site, however, I am now less satisfied with the application because it is bugging me to take a survey and tell the company that I’m not satisfied because they bugged me about taking a survey. (I’m dizzy now) So I’m going to clue them in without taking the survey. Hello, Netbeans people. Yes. Here’s one way to guarantee my satisfaction–leave me alone!!

So this is just a rant and me complaining. It’s not that big a deal, but I would take this opportunity to say that if you are a new Mac developer coming from the Windows world where forcing users into choices they don’t want is the order of the day, just get over that notion now. Don’t start building Mac apps that do this. Please. It doesn’t help anyone. I think Mac users are generally happier people. I think it’s because their apps are unobtrusive. Leave your users alone. They’ll let you know if you need to fix or change something.

Update: Just got contacted by Gregg Sporar who works for Sun (see the comments). He says this has been fixed in Netbeans 6.1. Cool!