IBM Cries Foul Over WebSphere Usability Study
eWeek — “The TMC study, released last month, said it took 195 developer-hours to build some enterprise applications, compared with 94 developer-hours to build the same applications with Microsoft’s Visual Studio. Application server installation and configuration took 22 developer-hours in the WebSphere environment and 4 in the Microsoft environment, the study said. IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., rebutted the claims as biased based on the level of experience of the .Net developers used in the study and the relative lower level of experience of the WebSphere developers.”
First, the report was commissioned by Microsoft. That doesn’t mean that it is inherently wrong, but it does cast a shadow of doubt on the results. Second, the level of experience of users is critical. IBM is making a good point. Usability depends on users, and if your users lack experience, it will probably take them more time to complete tasks.