So, it was the same reviewer for all 3. The Antix review was in the context of distros for 32bit architectures though so EOS isn’t really a competitor in that space. He did give PopOS all 9s which was kinda surprising. I’d disagree of course that it is more performant than EOS, but it’s only a single point and who knows, maybe if he recalled he gave Pop a 9 he would’ve done the same for EOS. I find in these matters it’s best to assume no ill will on the people in question, more often than not the explanation is more benign than expected.
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True.
As an unsuspecting reader - I’ve only read a few issues of the magazine, as only started learning about Linux in April- I wouldn’t have the background knowledge of the author - So I wouldn’t know that
Nor, would I know that in previous issues Linux Lite received an 8 and:
Also, it didn’t occur to me to that a different reviewer may have given it a higher, or lower score. I just saw the review and thought it was a decent review. I think most people rarely think about the context when reading reviews e.g previous scores, which author is giving the review etc. I’d say the average person typically reads several reviews before making a decision whether to buy, or try something and thankfully EOS has several good reviews from people all over the net.
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Wholeheartedly agreed, no ill will assumed. I am 100% applying the Hanlon’s Razor to this.
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I think it depends on the reviewer; for example Tyler’s tech usually uses a distro for a whole week as his daily driver, before giving his reviews. Which I think is a decent enough time to form an opinion about them.
Also, I think the factors that Linux Format are scoring on in this case e.g features, ease of use, documentation etc are factors that can be scored within a shorter period of time.
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To be honest, I would find it hard to review a distro because it’s essentially going to be checked off against what I personally like or dislike. So long as the implementation isn’t buggy that’s all it really boils down to: what is the philosophy of the distro and does that philosophy align with my own? Implementation details probably aren’t much of a concern unless they only support one desktop. The more experienced you are, the more you’re probably concerned with package support, release schedule, support cycles and things like that. Distro reviews tend to focus more on the implementation as that’s what newer users focus on.
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Performance rating seems like such an arbitrarily subjective thing that I don’t think it’s worth wasting breath over it. If it were based on a benchmark or something I would understand. If it’s based on “how it feels” that’s bs. That reviewer could feel differently that day compared to other days. Maybe losing patience with what he does.
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Yeah benchmarks for performance would be good in this case.
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If something is quicker or slower, the reviewer should back these claims up with numbers and figures. If it’s only a “feeling”, then that must be made clear as well.
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For a bit of perspective, the reviews that I have been following for years have mostly made sense - and have been a reliable signpost for things to be checked out. The magazine reviews many spins and types, and even has ‘comparos’ frequently, pitting up to 6 or 7 distros against each other as to their ability in a particular area. For instance - security-focused distros fairly recently (Tails etc).
Knowing this particular review target so well, it felt a little shallow - and it missed the biggest plus in its inventory - this forum! However, the mention can’t hurt…
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Oh…Yeah that’s actually a very big miss 
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yes that’s sad…
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Indeed. This forum is what EndeavourOS is all about, at least in my view. Without this great forum, you may as well run vanilla Arch and not notice any difference.
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Linux Format is one of the few magazines that I read cover to cover. Really a great magazines. Here in the USA, it costs about 20$ a month.
Agreed.
Yeah its a great magazine. I was reading through it last night with my chamomile tea. I particularly liked their Linux is the tops article and libre office 7 article. Plus, their tropico 6 review.
I pay £12 per month to access Scribd. Which is a digital library containing a massive amount of books, audio books, magazines and podcasts etc. Highly reccomend it, been a game changer for me since discovering it this spring.
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I have a print sub to LXF, which is about £54 per year IIRC.
Got my issue delivered this morning, so I’ll be taking a gander later 
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thanks for the information. i am checking it out.
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Not sure I should mention this, but if you have Magzter (a magazine access service), Linux Format is included in the ‘Gold’ subscription - about $9.99 a month. It also include a LOT of other titles in the same price (PC Magazine, PC World, Maximum PC, Motor Trend, Automobile, Flying, Autocar, Top Gear, Motor Boat and Yacht (!) and many others in mine) I would hate to miss it, but I DO like cheap!
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thank for the tip. i will be checking it out
Going by the Trustpilot reviews I wouldn’t go near Magzter tbh…
Haven’t seen that as yet. My experience is marred only by excessive ‘reminders’ - no other problems. It is not as good as Texture was, but Apple killed that - and this was the best available alternative.
Edit: I went through the Trustpilot reviews, and all seem to have the same problem - difficulty in cancelling subscriptions. My experience does not match this. I was using it a few months, when a special offer came up for a discounted year rate. Despite leaving it to the last minute (or perhaps later, depending on time zones), they managed to cancel my monthly charge and start the yearly service.\
On top of that, a ‘suggestion’ about the zoom feature needing reconfiguration was actually (surprisingly!) heeded, and the reading experience on a tablet is now reasonable. Personally I suspect that they got overwhelmed with temporary subscriptions, and f***d them up - without being the ‘scam’ suggested by unhappy reviewers. Remember that unhappy people react more than happy ones when evaluating their service. 
(Of course - I may just have gotten lucky - but the service has been around for while now)
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