🚀 go-pugleaf

                        TOP TEN MAC SOFTWARE RIP-OFFS

                            Monday, August 3, 1992

Well, Aldus's efforts to keep the #1 slot just weren't good enough.  Userland
have jumped straight in there -- and for the first time, we have a UK price
in pounds which is higher than the US price in dollars.  Wow!  I suppose us
stinking foreigners will have to wait until Apple releases a scripting
language as part of the System.

A slightly disappointing new entry from Quark.  Given the horror stories
about their attitude towards customer support, I expected them to be near the
top of the chart.

#  Company         Product                   UK RRP   US RRP   UK RRP  Rip-off 
   name            name                      pounds     $        $       %ge   

1  UserLand        Frontier                  250.00   249.00   471.87   89.51
2  Aldus           Personal Press            195.00   199.00   368.06   84.96
3  Aldus           Persuasion                450.00   495.00   849.37   71.59
4  Symantec        Symantec Anti-virus        89.00    99.00   167.99   69.68
5  Claris          MacDraw Pro               325.00   399.00   613.44   53.74
6  Salient         AutoDoubler (crippleware)  65.00    79.95   122.69   53.46
7  Aladdin         StuffIt Deluxe 2.0         79.00    99.00   149.11   50.62
8  Quark           Xpress 3.1                695.00   895.00  1311.81   46.57
9  On Technology   OnLocation                 99.00   129.95   186.86   43.80
10 Beagle Bros     BeagleWorks               219.00   299.95   413.36   37.81

             Exchange rate used was 1.8875 dollars to the pound.


Finding a hero this week wasn't so easy.  Nevertheless, let's have a little
grudging appreciation for Symantec.  13% isn't a completely ridiculous
mark-up on Think C.  Now, let's see if they can do something about the price
of SAM, huh?


                                 HERO CORNER

#  Company         Product                   UK RRP   US RRP   UK RRP  Rip-off 
   name            name                      pounds     $        $       %ge   

1  Claris          Resolve                   225.00   399.00   424.69    6.44
2  Symantec        Think C 5.0               150.00   249.00   283.12   13.70

RRP is Recommended Retail Price; known as Manufacturer's Suggested Retail
Price in the USA.

Crippleware is software deliberately crippled to force the user to pay more
money.  I'm still waiting for confirmation on how to de-cripple AutoDoubler.


mathew
[ Boring references follow ]

1	US: MacWorld July 92 p.190	UK: Personal Computer World July 92 p.214
2	US: MacWorld June 1992 p.141	UK: MacUser April 3 1992 p.101
3	US: MacWorld July 92 p.158	UK: MacUser 15 May 92 p.84
4	US: MacWorld June 1992 p.24	UK: MacUser May 15 1992 p.89
5	US: MacWorld July 1992 p.21	UK: Claris brochure
6	US: MacWorld June 1992 p.125	UK: MacUser May 15 1992 p.18
8	US: MacWorld July 92 p.199	UK: MacUser 15 May 92 p.84
9	US: MacWorld June 1992 p.188	UK: MacUser May 15 1992 p.89
10	US: MacWorld June 1992 p.164	UK: MacUser April 3 1992 p.86

Heros:
1	US: MacWorld July 92 p.172	UK: MacUser 15 May 92 p.84
2	US: MacWorld July 92 p.210	UK: MacUser 15 May 92 p.89

Note:
Opinions expressed are those of the author, and nothing to do with Mantis
Consultants.  Don't bother suing me; if I had enough money to make it worth
your while I'd be able to afford your software.

Copyright:
This article may be freely copied and republished, but I'd appreciate it if
you'd let me know where it ends up.