Original text by David Pogue, Macworld June 1996.

The database review mentioned in this article might be one of these two.

Review of the hilariously terrible Brother HL-8 printer and two (yes, two) attempts at Macintosh drivers for the HL-8.

Review of the smoking hot Envisio Notebook Display Adapter (1992). Audio version.

“If you’ve worked for the company, can you write the review? No.” Pogue found himself in a similar conundrum. His review of Finale 1.0 included the disclaimer, “Since writing this review in September 1988, David Pogue has become a paid consultant for Coda Music Software.” One reader applauded Macworld for this disclosure but still argued it was a conflict of interest. Pogue stated, “My future reviews for Macworld will not include music software,” though that was not to last very long. See his 1994/1995 reviews of AutoScore, Practica Musica, MOTU’s Performer, and Opcode Vision.

I don’t recall and was unable to dig up any rebuttal ads targeting David Pogue. If anyone out there is in the know and feels like naming names, drop me a line and I’ll update this episode. David, are you reading this? :-)