Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!lynx.northeastern.edu!davidbrierley From: davidbrierley@lynx.northeastern.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: RE: Piracy Message-ID: Date: 19 May 89 00:27:23 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 29 One facet of the piracy issue that I'd like to bring up is the question of early version penalties (EVP - a.k.a. upgrade fees). When a software item is upgraded to a newer version the same suggested retail price is kept. People with older versions usually must pay an early version penalty in order to trade in their old version for the new one. These EVP's often reach 30 to 40 percent of the original cost of the package. The dilemma here is that user A buys a spreadsheet version 1.5 for $180, then user B buys version 1.6 a month later for $180. User A must shell out about another $30 to get version 1.6, so the real cost of the version for a more long term customer is $210. The question is whether or not this is a case of piracy on the part of the software publisher (discriminatory pricing). Some people use this as an argument to justify piracy. Perhaps EVPs should be limited to $10 or ten percent of the suggested retail price, whichever is higher - unless the new version has a higher retail price, thus the user with the older version need only pay the difference. Perhaps we could throw in an allowance for postage and handling, too. I feel that some type of EVP control will entice people who have legally obtained a version of a software item to buy newer versions instead of pirating them. P.S. I realize that newer versions do not always have the same suggested retail price as the older ones. davidbrierley@lynx.northeastern.edu