Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!fluke!dyndata!dan
From: dan@dyndata.UUCP (Dan Everhart)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: zortech upgrade
Message-ID: <687@dyndata.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jul 90 19:35:37 GMT
References: <1990Jul1.170745.9757@aucs.uucp> <1990Jul4.221202.29476@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu>
Organization: Dynamic Data & Electronics, Edmonds WA
Lines: 53
In-reply-to: horstman@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu's message of 4 Jul 90 22:12:02 GMT


In article <1990Jul4.221202.29476@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes:

   date? Frankly, I am pretty unhappy about first having paid big bucks to
   get Zortech 2.0 Professional, only to find out that it was so buggy that
   I ended up not using it (e.g. the fact that I couldn't have two member
   functions X::f(int) and X::f(Y) with the same name and different args...).
   Now they want to have another nontrivial amount (I believe $95) to
   get the upgrade to 2.1. A complete Turbo C++ Professional only costs
   me $139. 


What disappointed me was that Zortech 2.0 didn't support pointers to
members, i.e. not the whole language.  On the other hand I didn't NEED
pointers to members.  The bugs I found in 2.0 were not show-stoppers
(that is until the latest one which appeared when I started using
virtual base classes).  Bugs are to be expected in early versions of
compilers in a competitive market, especially for a rapidly evolving
language.  What counts more to me is the vendor's attitude toward those
bugs.  

   Now they want to have another nontrivial amount (I believe $95) to
   get the upgrade to 2.1. A complete Turbo C++ Professional only costs
   me $139. 

Turbo C++ likely has bugs of its own, being a first release.  But you
have a point.  My own experience has been: 

ZTC++ v1.05			$100	(Wow, C++ for only $100)
library sources  		 $50	(Better have these...)
1.07 upgrade			free	(These bugs are killin' me)
2.0 dev. kit upgrade		$250	(Gotta have that slick debugger)
					$400 (subtotal)
(hypothetical) 2.1 upgrade	 $95	(hmmmmm....)
					$495 (total)

which is more than list price, way more than mail-order.  Moral: A low
introductory price will, in the long run, be compensated for (and
more) by upgrade costs.

Sofware companies LIKE upgrades.  1) They don't have to cut in the
dealer/distributor.  2) There's a lot more return on trying to sell an
upgrade to an existing customer than to sell a product to a new
customer.

In the Zortech vs Borland arena we have the interesting case of
Turbo's introductory price being comparable to ZTC's upgrade price!  I
am teetering over which to plunk the $$ on, and may wind up buying
both as insurance.

If you find a product truly unusable, yell at the manufacturer until he
refunds your money.  If he won't refund your money, give him as much
bad publicity as you can.