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[TL;DR: Hindsight is 20/20, but if you did a good job with your requirements and you had good information about if a product meets each one, then it doesn't always matter that other products which didn't meet the requirements as completely eventually win out.] I may be one of these types, but at least in many of my cases, I don't really know that it mattered in the end? Maybe after a review I pick something that didn't win in the long term or even eventually exited the market because it wasn't popular enough. But, my requirements are almost never strictly that it's popular. What I end up with does typically do the job very well for the time I have it, and after few years the requirements may change or the need may go away completely. If one of my requirements is that a device is built with metal instead of plastic, maybe I never have to replace it. Another example: Your friend had a Zune, but then I'm guessing they moved on to a phone, [because phones eventually] became better music players. If the Zune did all the things they wanted while they had it, especially if they had a unique need, maybe were happy with it. (Although, that isn't necessarily always the case.) This doesn't seem quite as applicable for selecting software, though. Popularity often is part of what I look at there, because I want to know dependencies won't need replacing and support will be available. Additionally, you can potentially work with the developers so the selection iterates and grows into your requirements. |