I frequently go scrounging around for niche development tools/libraries to solve one-off needs, and it's frightening how ubiquitous fake, 3D-rendered product box images are in the software tool industry.

These rectangular parallelepiped (aka "box") renderings generally feature some gangly, oversized text, coupled with awkward, gaudy graphics.

Further investigation has revealed that there's a whole industry of "3d box rendering" software vendors, all promising to pump up your sales if you put one of these travesties on your product page.

What's the point of these fake product box renderings? Why do so many ISVs insist upon leading their product page with them?

"It makes our product more real! Like something physical that you could hold in your hands."

No it doesn't. It makes it less real.

Seeing a clearly bogus box that no one would ever spend actual money printing doesn't fool anyone. Worse, it gives off the putrid stench of deception, implying that there's a real shelf-clogging box when many of these products provide nothing of the sort, most being e-delivery or at most a CD shipping in a flat pack.

It begins a relationship of mistrust.

"But Microsoft does it! Microsoft=successful, therefore it must be a good practice"

Apart from the weak (and admittedly strawman) rationalization, not only has Microsoft mostly abandoned the "picture of the box" graphics on their product pages, where they did use it they used the professionally produced graphics they printed on the real box -- the real box that you probably also saw at Circuit City or Future Shop or wherever.

The product page graphic made reference to real life. It didn't spin some fiction.

We as an industry need to stop this image on cuboid violence. If you must decorate a product page, it's less of a crime to use some of the standard "beautiful people looking happy" pictures, though even that should be avoided.