🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <8904241544.AA21773@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes:
>The latest issue of Current Notes has an article by G. Louie of Sphere Inc.
>berating the ST market for piracy. He says that the same title of a code in]
>the PC market sells 40 - 100,000 copies a year but the ST only 15,000. Is he
>looking only at the US market where there are millions of PCs as opposed to
>a couple of hundred thousand STs? What are sales as a % of the market he is
>selling in.
>
Obviously not.  Talking in terms of number of copies sold (just about) never
takes into account the number of machines available.  When we start to
compare IBM and ST markets, we must consider 1) number of machines sold and
2) The people who use the computers.  As for number of machines sold, we can
consider that one type of computer is marketed by Big Blue.  Plus, IBM is 
not alone since lots of companies sell clones (the list is extensive).  Now,
if there are 4 times as many MS DOS machines as there are STs (a conservative
figure), 15,000 vs. 40,000 is not bad at all.  But if there are 10 times as
many MS DOS machines as STs (Somebody mentioned 12 million for the MS DOS
misfit market) 15,000 vs. 100,000 is an amazing statistic.  For the home
market, the MS DOS misfits probably range between 4 and 10 times the ST market.

Now, how about the people who use these computers?  Well, I figure that many
are sold to companies.  Many of those are used by people that deal with THE
MACHINE because their boss said "Here, use this computer."  Many of those
probably also went into a mild panic at that momment.:-)  Now, of the the 
people who use computers at work, many use the same computer at home because 
that is what they are accustomed to.  And in a not so far-fetched manner, we
could conclude that those people have the money to buy the computer in the 
first place and continue to have the money to buy software.

But, in the ST market, I see a slightly different view.  Atari isn't common
in the work place so the motivations were different.  Primary motivators
would include MIDI and the fact that an ST does more than an MS DOS misfit
but costs less.  Gee, could it be that many people who own STs don't really
have the money to buy software or at least tend to be picky on their
selection of software because of monetary constraints?  I know I am.  I
haven't purchased software in a while.  But, I also haven't pirated any
software either.  (Got any suggestions about dealing with a pirate BBS?)

Plus, consider this important fact.  In a smaller market, people are more
sensitized to piracy.  After all, each owner of an ST constitutes a much
larger percentage of the ST market than one IBM owner in the mega MS DOS
misfit market.  Frankly, I think that piracy probably occurs in a much larger
percentage of the MS DOS market.  It's just that the companies really don't
care about piracy if they still get their profit from those who buy a copy.
It's all relative and we don't need no ignorants [name withheld to protect
the guilty] telling us that people who own STs pirate more than IBMers.

Now consider this.  Since the ST market is sensitized to the issue of
pirating than the MS DOS market and because ST software is more resonably
priced, there is likely to be LESS pirating.  Why? Most piracy is a crime 
of ignorance.  People often pirate because they don't associate bits of data 
with the concept of property.  The disk is property, the data is not.  Also, 
many find the concept of lost sales to be difficult to grasp.  Some simply 
do not care if the publisher gets his money, especially when the publisher 
wants $500 for a program.  I think the ST community has been given a motive 
against pirating that's easier to understand: "If you guys pirate this 
software, we won't make any more for you."  See, now that's understandable.
People can realate to the possibility of no more new toys to play with.
Now try that with people who own MS DOS misfits.  Got the idea?

But maybe there's a better, less logical reason.  Maybe, just maybe, some of
these people who are complaining about piracy in the ST market do so because
their products just are selling well.  It's easier to blame piracy than admit
failure.

[Other valid comments deleted for space considerations]

Brian Walker                     One of these programs is not like the others,
walkerb@tramp.colorado.edu       One of these programs will really teach yer,
..!ncar!boulder!tramp!walkerb   One of these programs is not like the others,
University of Colorado, Boulder  Yes, that's not a bug, that's a feature.