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From: bc@apple.UUCP (bill coderre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Hypercard - How About New Mac Owner
Message-ID: <1574@apple.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Aug-87 13:00:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: apple.1574
Posted: Fri Aug 21 13:00:52 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Aug-87 02:50:48 EDT
References: <36@mtunj.ATT.COM> <174400045@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, USA
Lines: 41

Sorry to flame, but please, folks!

Why $50? 

You say, "It's far more than distribution costs?" Oh, how do you
know?  What do you think they are? Let's talk several hundred pages
of manual, in typical Apple style. Four disks (over 2 Megabytes of
data), nice high quality disks. Good looking box. Shipping and sales
support. Shrink wrap! A new icon of Bill Atkinson! (grin)

Seriously:
Dealers cannot afford to sell anything that they don't make money on.
Computer retail doesn't work on the "supermarket" margin. Every item
has to pay for itself. The volume isn't big enough. Yet.

Consider:
How much will it cost you to download 2 Megabytes from your favorite
BBS? (That does not include electronic copies of the paper manual.)

Answer:
You're right! Apple is not going to make much money on this. Except in
new Macintosh sales. And for those lucky people, they get it free.

I intend to buy a copy of Hypercard just so I can have the nice
manuals. I hate the xerox pre-drafts I've been wading through. (No,
even the real employees don't get it free.)

Please, let's not argue "just how much is Apple ripping off the poor,
underprivileged User?" again. We went through ages of that about
Inside Mac.

Let's talk "product value versus product cost". Have you ever seen any
product from any company that gave you so much power for so little
money? (Okay, there are one or two.)

Note:
Microsoft/IBM Presentation Manager/OS-2 developer's kit is $3000.

Apple will be mad at me for flaming you, but please. Consider the
value, not the cost. Software doesn't cost anything. It provides
value..........................................................bc