🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <97@avsd.UUCP> govett@avsd.UUCP (David Govett) writes:

>A software company has to amortize its development costs over projected
>sales.

Right.  And so there's no argument for developing any ST software.  Somebody
said before that there was less than a million ST buyers.  Well let me tell
you; there's A LOT LESS.  More like less than 50,000 actual, qualified buyers
(not computers collecting dust and pirated software).   Of the 50,000, you're
doing well to penetrate 10,000 of them over the life of the product.  So
saying it sells for $40 retail, which you're saying is the most any ST buyer
will pay (and I agree); that means $16 wholsale, of which say $5-$10 is gross
profit (higher profit margins can only apply if you have "economies of scale"
which few ST publisher have).  Ok so over the life of the product there is
$50,000 to $100,000 gross profit.  That has to pay for development and all
the overhead it takes to sell those 10,000 copies: advertising, office
operations, sales overhead, administration, telephones, computer operations,
office/sales space, and a lot more.   If you can sell all 10,000 copies in
the first year, and you keep you're expenses low, guess what:  you break even!

With ST software, it's not very likely you will ever sell 10,000 copies.  Ask
around.  Very few ST packages have achieved these numbers, even some that
have been out for three years.  Admitedly, a few ST packages have sold
lot's more than 10,000 copies; but there are a lot more products with
numbers well below this level, even well known packages.

Combine with that the fact that ST software sales are not even as strong
as they were a year ago, and things only look worse.

I'm not saying that the user should bear the burden, but don't make the
small independent software companies bear it either.  Just becuase you
pay $39 for a piece of software, don't think that the guys that developed
it are "ripping you off".   I think everybody on the net by now knows
who I think should bear some of this burden.   Can you spell Atari Corp?
-- 
David Beckemeyer			| "Yuh gotta treat people jes' like yuh	
Beckemeyer Development Tools		| do mules. Don't try to drive 'em. Jes'
478 Santa Clara Ave, Oakland, CA 94610	| leave the gate open a mite an' let 'em
UUCP: ...!ihnp4!hoptoad!bdt!david 	| bust in!"