Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!sri-unix!STERNLIGHT@USC-ECL.ARPA From: STERNLIGHT@USC-ECL.ARPA Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: New Half gigabyte ROM...CD vs LASER Message-ID: <660@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Thu, 10-May-84 12:17:29 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.660 Posted: Thu May 10 12:17:29 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 14-May-84 01:00:13 EDT Lines: 37 From: STERNLIGHT Jeez, you guys. How many copies of Michala Petri playing Babell Sonatas on the recorder do you think Phillips sold worldwide on CD? 1000? 10000?? How many copies of Wordstar or 1-2-3 have been sold? But the economics were such that Phillips released Petri on CD once they had the LP masters. Once you have the masters, the production cost of CD's must be a lot less than the $12 per unit they sell them for in the U.K. or the $15.99 Tower records sells them for here. So someone is sure to find a way to modify the masters (remember, we're talking high-speed audiotape here) quickly and cheaply for bug fixes. Can you imagine getting all your software upgraded for $16.99? We pay more than that for 1 program upgrade. (Of course they'll charge more, depending on supply and demand; the costs of production also fall on the CD entirely here. But I am making a feasibility point.) Not only that, but the economics are such that you could sell people CD's with lots of software on it they don't even need (as well as that they do) for a very good price. Then you have them in the market for all the upgrades to get the upgrade to the software they use (remember, it's all on the same CD) and a hell of a big market base for that CD as a result. Thus the costs of the bug fixes as well as production of the CD would be spread over a very large market base. Let's suppose that the total market for the CD were as low as 50,000 . At $50 to get all your bugs fixed as of a certain date, that's $2.5 million. Take off about $5 as a generous estimate of the physical production costs per disk and you still have $2.25 million for the bug fixers. If there are 20 serious programs on the CD (plus a lot of trivial stuff and stuff without identified bugs at that time, that's $112,500 per program to be split between the bug fixers and the operators of the system. You could even introduce upgrades in some of the programs for that money to make the $50 price irresistible. Looks like a good business to me. Even the cost of the documentation isn't a problem--just put it all on the same CD. Even if IBM hasn't got the least idea of doing it this way, how's that for a business plan for someone? --david-- -------