And we have to be vigilant about this rule. We postponed the review until we received a verifiably final version. This is one of the most sensitive areas we have to deal with. But we also need to make sure the reviewers limit their contact with vendors so that their objectivity isn't compromised. Macworld didn't send a reviewer, fearing his objectivity might be compromised in this case.
Reviewers do have some contact with the companies, however.
The result may be a negative review, but a much improved product when it's next updated. We select products for review based on many factors, but not on whether or not we think the product will fare well. We believe we're doing our readers a service by warning them about products that are buggy, that don't compare well against competing products, or that could actually do damage. For example, one of Macworld 's contributing editors reviewed a product and gave it the worst possible rating. The development team was very upset and brought me into their lab to show me how hard they had tried.