Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!iuvax!cica!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uccba!ucqais!rpick
From: rpick@ucqais.uc.edu (Roger Pick)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Databases - performance vs. price
Summary: you don't understand pricing
Keywords: performance price
Message-ID: <1735@ucqais.uc.edu>
Date: 17 Jul 89 13:56:05 GMT
References: <1554@unccvax.UUCP>
Organization: Univ of Cincinnati, College of Business Admin.
Lines: 39

In article <1554@unccvax.UUCP>, cs00chs@unccvax.UUCP (charles spell) writes:
>Currently there are multi-user database packages that are in the 5 digit range.
>I have seen single-user  packages for almost  nothing.  It seems to me that any
>decent programmer could come out with a DBMS that is comparable to the 5 $digit
>multiuser DBMS (using  single-user algorithms  and a centralized DBMS process). 
>Why has this not been done? I plan on attempting this feat soon. It seems to me
>that using a single, centralized process(using efficient single-user algorithms
>to manipulate the data) to communicate  with client processes via  IPC could be
>done by one programmer.
 
>Whatcha think?

I think that what you propose is technically feasible, but you are grossly
underestimating the costs of marketing software and you misunderstand how
prices are set.  

The price of a software package has little to do with the cost of
developing the package and little to do with its features.  Marketing
considerations and revenue maximization strategies determine prices.
For most packages (shareware is an exception), software development 
(usually carried on a software firm's books as R & D) is a small
fraction (10% would not be unusual) of the packages' cost.

Single user systems cost less mainly because you can sell more of them.
Multi-user systems cost more because the market is smaller.  Multi-user
systems also cost more because the market will bear the cost -- i.e.,
if the price is set appropriately, the cost per user to the buyer can
be a lot less for a multi-user system than by buying many single-user
systems.   Packages that sell for a low price do so because the market
is large or because marketing costs are low.  Packages that sell for a
high price do so because the market is small, market share is small,
there are no reasonable substitutes, or marketing/distribution costs
are high.

-- 
Roger Alan Pick - QA & Information Systems Department, University of Cincinnati
UUCP: {decuac,psuvax1!gatech!mit-eddie,philabs!phri,pyramid}!uccba!ucqais!rpick
ARPA or BITNET: rpick%ucqais@uccba.uc.edu                PHONE:  (513) 556-7158
POST:   QAIS - Lindner Hall, Univ. Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0130  USA