Even after reviewing a Magic 8 Ball last week, I still had no idea what I wanted to do for this review. As a rule of thumb, I like to stay away from heavily advertised products so I can give my readers something different to try. However, because so many wanted me to review Democracy in the light of recent events, I felt compelled to buy into it. I had mixed opinions, which led to gridlock.
A little background history on this product. It was originally manufactured in Greece (I didn’t bother to check how long ago), which makes me hesitant given their economic conditions, but I won’t judge too harshly. It spread slowly before exploding into the US, likely due to the fertile, capitalistic soil here. Perhaps in spite of this, I can’t seem to discern which corporation currently manufactures it in the US.
The terms and conditions would take days to read, but if you’re anything like me, just skip to the bottom and press accept.
The design is sleek. Right away, it was clear to me somebody put a lot of money into making this appear appealing. If you’re looking for something fashionable, easy to digest and to go with most any outfit, it’s perfect. The manufacturer’s goal is clear and concise (although sometimes a bit heavy-handed), making the aesthetic simple to pull off. It was really when I dived into it and took a magnifying glass to some of the features that I began to experience issues.
For those of my readers outside of the US, it should be noted, when the product was first introduced to Middle Eastern clients, there was a lot of complaints that the interface was just too difficult to set up. Some also noted this issue in a host of other countries around the world. Fear not! The manufacturers are doing their best to fix this problem. For those who are native, the interface should be no problem.
After getting past the interface, I was asked to download tedious cookies and other bits of privacy software.
The most frustrating aspect was that it seemed to follow a “pay-to-win” system. I couldn’t afford most of the features. The voting aspect seems to correlate most with this. Without paying, my votes felt meaningless next to the big spenders.
Additionally, this product was exceptionally prone to corrupting and deleting files.
It was too large to review in its entirety, but I was able to tease out my main qualm with it. Even though it was sleek and fashionable, making me feel trendy, the operating system was too convoluted and prone to file corruption. Hopefully for the 22nd century update they’ll fix some of the features.
