VMware Appliance Marketplace Ratings Analysis
During the past week, I was analyzing the recently revamped VMware Appliance Marketplace. My analysis is summarized below:
Salient Statistics
- 9% are top-rated, i.e., have a Star Rating of 5
- 41% have a Star Rating of between 3 and 4, i.e., this cluster may be providing the most value to its users, even though it is not top-rated.
- There is a steep drop-off in the number of appliances that have a Star Rating below 3
- 31% are unrated, which seems to indicate that a significant majority has been submitted recently
- Only 3% (40/1227) have Reviews – this is a very small number. The number of reviews have to grow substantially to indicate that a vibrant community, like Amazon.com reviews, has formed here
Transparency
I feel there is a greater need for transparency. What do the Star Ratings mean?
- Are they correlated with the number of downloads for that appliance?
- What is the impact of reviews on these ratings?
Beware Star Ratings alone! The following appliance rated 4.5 has 4 reviews, read them and you will know what I mean.
As a member of VMware’s Technology Network community, I will urge VMware to provide greater transparency around how these ratings are computed/awarded. It will greatly help the users understand the ratings system.
What do you think?
Data
|
VMware Marketplace Ratings |
Number of User Reviews |
|||||||||
|
Star Rating |
Total for this Rating |
% of Overall |
14 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Total Reviews |
|
5 |
115 |
9% |
|
|
2 |
|
|
3 |
9 |
14 |
|
4.5 |
40 |
3% |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
2 |
3 |
|
4 |
151 |
12% |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
3 |
4 |
|
3.5 |
158 |
13% |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
|
3 |
196 |
16% |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
2.5 |
64 |
5% |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
24 |
2% |
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
3 |
5 |
|
1.5 |
13 |
1% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 |
|
1 |
87 |
7% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
7 |
|
0 |
379 |
31% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
|
Total |
1227 |
100% |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
27 |
40 |
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