Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!ogicse!oregon!jmeissen From: jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org (John Meissen) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: An issue for the entire Amiga Community. Message-ID: <508@oregon.oacis.org> Date: 25 May 90 16:31:53 GMT References: <1990May17.001308.29541@csmil.umich.edu> <136089@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <11747@cbmvax.commodore.com> <136118@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <1401@faatcrl.UUCP> Organization: Oregon Advanced Computing Institute (OACIS), Beaverton, OR Lines: 46 In article <1401@faatcrl.UUCP> jprad@faatcrl.UUCP (Jack Radigan) writes: >What's truely criminal is the profit margins of some of the applications >available today. > >In most every industry we have a drop in price as the manufacturer recovers >the initial costs for startup and development. But not software, each new >version brings with it a higher price tag. C'mon, now. When was the last time a car company dropped prices? Or when was the last time you paid $.25 for a paperback book? The only industry that this has been true for is the computer industry. And just because you can't see beyond today's prices doesn't mean it isn't also true for software. Six years ago a quality C compiler cost over $500. Ditto for almost anything worth buying. Computer hardware manufacturers also don't provide free support (beyond an initial warranty period) or free (or even periodic) updates. And they can amortize the costs over many years. > >And there's no sane explanation for this maddness other than greed, >reprehensible, utterly shameless greed. ...other than labor costs, manufacturing and distribution expenses, marketing and promotion expenses, support costs, facilities expenses, retail mark-up,....... Perhaps you work out of your car, and don't consider your time worth anything. >Me, I'll support a Shareware product or directly marketed product over one >that has been defiled by a commerical publisher any day. They are the >true scum of our industry. > That "scum" paid my salary for many years. I think if you were in the position of having to make a living by producing and selling software you would change your tune very quickly indeed. > -jack- -- John Meissen ............................... Oregon Advanced Computing Institute jmeissen@oacis.org (Internet) | "That's the remarkable thing about life; ..!sequent!oacis!jmeissen (UUCP) | things are never so bad that they can't jmeissen (BIX) | get worse." - Calvin & Hobbes