Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
From: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu (David Palmer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: anti-educational discount legislati
Message-ID: <12152@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: 5 Oct 89 17:03:15 GMT
References: <8400172@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <4297@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <1989Oct2.102041.245@hellgate.utah.edu> <6758@ingr.com>
Sender: news@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu
Reply-To: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (David Palmer)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Lines: 41

In article <6758@ingr.com> proctor@ingr.com (John Proctor) writes:
>In article <1989Oct2.102041.245@hellgate.utah.edu>, t-jacobs@cs.utah.edu
>(Tony Jacobs) writes:
>> 
>> DON'T FORGET SOMETHING HERE, this legislation also impacts every computer
>> manufacture and MANY others have discount programs for educational 
>> institutions
>> 
>> Tony Jacobs * Center for Engineering Design * U of U * t-jacobs@ced.utah.edu
>
>Before you all get incensed, remember there is no such thing as a free
>lunch! The rest of us poor working slobs are paying for your discounts.
>Corporate America is not, I repeat, NOT a charitable institution! Sooo
>all you educational types remember who is paying for your discounts! 

The rest of you poor working slobs are not, I repeat, NOT paying for our
discounts.  Corporate America is not, I repeat, NOT Robin Hood.

Apple does not sell computers below what it costs to make them.  Apple
makes a profit on its sales to students, even at the student prices.

The marginal cost of a Mac is very low, the justification for its high
prices are the up-front costs of developing the machines and the software.
This justification is just PR, as Apple would still be in the black (perhaps
even more so) if the street price for a Mac were the same as the student price.

The purpose of the legislation is to raise retail sales by a small amount
by forbidding computer manufacturers from developing their own sales channels.
If only 10% of the students who buy at student prices can afford street
prices, then the retail chains sell slightly more computers than they did
before, and just don't give a damn about the 90% of students who are left
computerless.

And so the blessings of government fall upon the heads of those who own it.

		David Palmer
		palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu
		...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
    "Direct quotes don't have to be exact, or even accurate.  Truth is as
    irrelevant to a newspaper as it is to a court of law"
	- Judge Alarcon, 9th circuit court of appeals (paraphrased)