Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!bjones From: bjones@Apple.COM (Bruce Jones) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Cost Of System Software Keywords: System 7.0, System Software Message-ID: <52131@apple.Apple.COM> Date: 28 Apr 91 21:13:58 GMT Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA Lines: 66 All of this talk about the cost of System 7 software brings up some interesting questions that might be more worth discussing here than trying to guess Apple's marketing plans. For example, how much is System 7 worth? Is it worth as much as After Dark (MacConnection price of $22)? Is it worth as much as MacWrite ($142)? How about as much as Empower ($195) Would you pay as much for it as you would Quark XPress ($519)? How should you determine the cost of software? By Size? Empower is about 70K, so it costs around $2.75/K. MacWrite is around 2100K so it costs about 7 cents/K. It looks like System 7.0 will be about 7800K, so by Empower standards it would cost $21,450. By MacWrite standards it would cost $546. Suppose you can get System 7.0 on the street for $75 (don't quote me on that - it's just a guess, I know no more than you), that would mean it costs just under 1 cent/K. Is that a fair price? How does Microsoft set their costs? Suppose you hold the belief that all Macintosh System Software should be free. Should it always be free? We never, will, but suppose for argument's sake, Apple decided to make A/UX the standard System Software. 40 Meg of software and a stack of manuals several feet high. Should it still be free? If it's free should Apple offer the free telephone support that millions of new Mac owners have demanded? Should it put all the manuals on an FTP server? Should it defy AT&T license agreements and let users copy it from dealers? Maybe A/UX is an extreme example. What if Apple decided to do a System 8 or 9 or whatever that had all the features people in this news group and elsewhere have been screaming about. I guess it would take 2 to 4 years and end up being about 10 Meg. Who should pay for the development costs? (Please don't forget development costs. I've been working on 7.0 for three years, and had a great time, but I couldn't and wouldn't have done it for free.) Should the people who were clamoring for the features pay for them? Should new Mac users pay for them? (That would NOT help bring down the cost of Macintosh hardware.) Should Apple employees pay for them with pay cuts? Should Apple shareholders pay for them? Who pays for Microsoft's system software development costs? Hardware manufacturers? The Microsoft applications groups? End users who buy the shrink wrapped software? You can flame my numbers and examples all you want (no, actually please don't waste the bandwidth) but the questions remain, how should System Software be priced, and who should pay for the development. Some discussion on these topics would be very interesting. Bruce =============================================================================== Bruce Jones bjones@apple.com Applications Group AppleLink: BRUCE.JONES Macintosh System Software 7.0 Team 408 974-3454 Apple Computer, Inc 20525 Marianni Avenue MS 81BB Cupertino, CA 95014 =============================================================================== -- =============================================================================== Bruce Jones bjones@apple.com Manager, Applications Group AppleLink: BRUCE.JONES Macintosh System Software 7.0 Team 408 974-3454 Apple Computer, Inc 20525 Marianni Avenue MS 81BB Cupertino, CA 95014 ===============================================================================