Reviews
David C. Oshel has posted a comparison of SmartGo vs. Many Faces of Go on his blog:
The more I see of both, the more I'm inclined to argue that if your Go budget is modest, buy SmartGo ($69) first and Many Faces of Go ($85) maybe never, unless you need to fill a slot in your virtual Go museum. ... SmartGo's feature set is immense, cleanly implemented and rationally laid out for the intelligent user.
The American Go Association has published a review of SmartGo 2.1 in their E-Journal:
I found SmartGo to be a well designed and extremely useful package. While individual features are sometimes better implemented by other dedicated programs, as a complete suite SmartGo is tough to beat.
The Swiss Go blog let's go is featuring a nice review of SmartGo 2.1 (in German). His conclusion (translated):
SmartGo 2.1 is an absolutely recommendable program, for playing as well as reviewing, for exploring new joseki or to simply build or extend a database of your own (or pro) games. Everything is exceedingly user-friendly, although you might possibly have some initial difficulties, those should have dissolved completely by the 4th or 5th usage. For those who have long been looking for a program to polish their Go knowledge, SmartGo is just right.
Quotes
Some unsolicited quotes from users and beta testers:
SmartGo is probably the sweetest example of form following function since the Sloop John B. [competitor name deleted] looks like a garbage scow by comparison. Seriously, the modern user interface is a breath of fresh air ... Thanks very much for writing this!
The new version of SmartGo is spectacular - looks fabulous and the features are amazing.
"Anders Kierulf's popular game editor SmartGo is an outstanding program. I have used various game editors for years to teach and study and SmartGo has become my favorite game editor and I now use it almost exclusively. While all game editors are now powerful, SmartGo has features that put it significantly ahead of the pack."
"I'd like to congratulate you on such a fine product. It feels very fast and sleek -- like a racehorse. The manual is very informative and precise -- not a wasted word."
More than 20 years computers were my job and hobby and only twice I was truly raptured with the way some software was made. Once it was some Borland software, and now your SmartGo.
"I'm most impressed with the clean UI and the rich support for SGF (but of course, you invented it). I'm going to throw away MGT and start using SmartGo for all my game records and study. It is so far out ahead of all other editors there's no contest."
"What amazing customer service! I e-mail a bug report ... and less than 6 hours later I have a link to a patched version of the software. Amazing!"
"I love your program and I’ve recommended it to several of my friends. It is truly the best looking way to play/study Go on the PC!"
"SmartGo is absolutely the top-tier tool for Go study."
"Even after the first month that I have used it, I am still learning bells and whistles I had not seen before. One compact program that gives you a solid player, awesome SGF editing capabilities as well as Life and Death tools that can be used for studying, add to that your go games and go problems, and you have the ultimate Go Software Package!"
"After using SmartGo all other SGF editors pale in comparison."
"This is just a quick thank you for this upgrade to your excellent program. I've spent many happy hours using it, and the way that you support the software is thoroughly professional and commendable. I have to say that I was concerned before I bought it on-line that the experience would not be a good one (it was the first time I purchased software in this way). But exactly the opposite is true - I am very impressed by the software itself, by the ease at which I bought it and by the way that you support the product with these upgrades. Thank you..!"
"I have transferred all my Go games over to SmartGo. The program comes up right away (which I really like), and it only took me a few minutes to get used to how to maneuver. The program is very powerful, yet easy to use."
[About Alt-key to go to a move] "I like it a lot. The move number at that location showing up in red is great. Just the ticket for finding a specific move when you're uncertain of the exact location with the surrounding stones removed. Great."
"Great product. Much better than the others. It has improved my game."