Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!mirror!rayssd!raybed2!linus!munck From: munck@linus.UUCP (Robert Munck) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: The High Cost Of Software Practice & Experience Keywords: Journals Message-ID: <43150@linus.UUCP> Date: 20 Dec 88 16:02:50 GMT Reply-To: munck@faron.UUCP (Robert Munck) Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA Lines: 27 I just received an advertising flyer from John Wiley & Sons for the journal "Software Practice & Experience." Anyone who has had any contact with it knows about the quality of this journal; the articles are timely, well written/refereed, and extremely interesting, the Editors and Editorial Board are top-notch people, and the breadth of coverage is great. Somehow just the sight of that distinctive red cover says "this is good." Until, that is, you come to the subscription price. This flyer offers a mark-down from $315/year to $236.25/year for "personal subscriptions mailed to a home address." (Twelve issues.) I honestly don't understand that price. Given the cost of all those good people, production, (overseas) mailing, etc. etc., how can they possibly charge $20 an issue? I can't believe that greed is the motivation, except possibly for the publisher. I put a lot of time and effort into keeping up with the state of the art; about 40 journals, newspapers, etc. This one magazine would cost about 1/3 of what I'm spending now. Consider that it could be sent out in Postscript form by E-mail, saving all post-editing production costs. What would they have to charge then? (That $78.75 difference in cost bothers me, too. Suppose I read my copy and then donate it to a library. Do I have to send Wiley $78.75?) -- Bob