Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!ralf
From: ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Ralf Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Turbo C 2.0, EMS, and style
Keywords: Borland International, pricing
Message-ID: <3858@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 13 Dec 88 02:46:42 GMT
References: <1734@edison.GE.COM> <2298@bucsb.UUCP>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 34

In article <2298@bucsb.UUCP> composer@bucsb.bu.edu (Jeff Kellem) writes:
}But, it is definitely NOT a steal anymore.  Especially, with the way
}Borland has been heading in pricing and as it always has been with
}upgrade prices.
...
}But, Borland started out as a good company producing a very good
}product for an excellent price (v1.0 of Turbo Pascal was $39.95, if my
}memory serves me correctly, for you Borland history buffs) and has
}since started leaning towards higher pricing strategies when they're
}not necessary.  Yes, they're making more money now.  But, they could
}still be making a lot of money even with lower prices.  I won't

An important consideration is HOW they're selling the programs.  TP 1.0 was 
$49.95, every penny of which went to Borland since at the time they only sold
direct.  Nowadays, only about 10% of their business (not counting upgrades,
which I'll get back to) is end users buying direct.  The rest is dealers,
which buy the package wholesale--about 40% of list (ever wondered how mail-
order companies can sell software for 50-60% of list?).  So Borland actually
got LESS on its $100 TP4 than it got on its $50 TP1.

The price Borland charges for upgrades seems to be very close to the wholesale
price.  Even so, I hear that Microsoft upgrades are more expensive than 
Borland upgrades.  You paid about $165* to go from TP1 to TP5.  So now you've
spent $215 for five complete versions of the compiler.  Seems to me MS
Pascal was considerably more than $215 at the time, even without the cost 
of upgrades ($75 each, wasn't it?)....

* $35 + $30 + $45 + $55

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