🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Aug9.152030.1392@digifix!uunet.ca> sanguish@digifix.com (Scott Anguish) writes:
>Matthew Dillon writes
>>     Actually, bringing up CD's is a good example.  They cost about a dollar
>>     to make and yet are sold for $15 or more, that's 15x margin!
>>
>
>	You are not taking into account all the other factors in producing a CD
>(or software), mastering costs, making the music (software), marketing the
>product, artwork, royalties etc...

    It costs $10,000 to purchase a CD mastering machine.  This is DIRT
    CHEAP!

    The other items are certainly considerations but we are still talking
    about 15x margin from which that is paid out, not, say, 30% VAR.

>	Its still hard to justify the price of CDs, but a buck a disk is wrong.
>(In Canada, CD prices average about $20, YIKES!)

    No, I didn't mean to say they should sell for a dollar, just that that
    was what they cost to make (or less).

>[deleted]
>>     You don't have to offer phone support for software and, frankly, if
>>     that's the majority of the 'cost' in buying the software I wouldn't
>>     mind the option.  P.S. phone support != bug reports.  email support is
>>     EASY and costs almost NOTHING.
>>
>	Did I ever say anything about phone support??  Don't you think that the
>people who have to answer your e-mail get paid?  Doesn't an internet connection
>cost money?  I know that mine does.
>	And lets not forget that e-mail is not as responsive as voice support.
>Or the important fact that many people don't have access to e-mail.

    I get 15-20 email messages a day, many of them questions.  It's quite
    cost effective.  An Internet connection costs about, what, $250 a
    month?  I'm currently paying $100/mo with the traffic I'm throwing into
    uunet.  Besides, I did say 'optional' didn't I?  Many companies
    separate out the support as an extra-cost option, it's definitely worth
    considering if it's the major portion of your cost.

    Reproducing disks and packaging cost nothing.


>>     Compatibility is not an end-user issue but falls into the category of
>>     the programmer's time.  In fact, you didn't bring up the MAJOR cost
>>     item, that being the recouping of the development and marketing costs
>>     over a reasonable period of time (after which you make your profit).
>
>	If you go back to the original post, I was pointing out that these
>factors make BOOKS different from SOFTWARE.

    If it was so important it should have been reiterated in what was
    obviously your main point for this article, no?  I can always point
    back to a previous article I wrote but considering that I, and most
    people, read hundreds of articles a day, it's pretty much given
    that the reference will not be meaningful to the majority of people
    reading the article.

>[still more deleted]

    I use '> ...' for this.

>>     No, it isn't plain and simple.  Remember, the argument is over WHY
>>     *MANY* people pirate software.  It's obvious that it is theft and just
>>     as obvious that labeling it doesn't change the fact that people are
>>     doing it.  The argument is over WHY people are doing it, not that they
>>     are doing it (if you follow me...)
>>
>
>	Users pirate software because
>	a: it is usually easy

    Disagree.  The majority of people I know would buy it if they could
    afford it.	It's more an issue of cost verses the financial standing of
    the majority of the consumer base expected to buy it.  If the cost is
    too far above this point you get Piracy... which would seem to indicate
    inappropriate pricing and indeed, from everything I've read on the net
    over the last month, this is apparently the case.

>	b: it is very unlikely they will be caught.

    Disagree.  Even if you are caught, something on the order of making a
    copy or two of software X cannot be equated to the market price of the
    software for each infraction in terms of legal recompense.	Unlike
    stealing a car, copying software on a small scale does not hurt the
    producer or original purchaser of said software in any way for the
    general consumer case... users who would have been unlikely to purchase
    multiple copies otherwise.	Support costs certainly don't double!

    Anything beyond that level of copying falls into the category of being
    truely criminal... someone breaking the copyprotect and/or making many
    copies on a hacker bbs's on purpose, or a company which makes the
    policy decision to buy one copy and then utilize it on a dozen
    workstations all at once.  This kind of stuff is criminal and is what
    the copyprotection, distasteful as it may be, must be targetted to.

>	c: many don't perceive the wrong in doing it

    Agree.

>	d: if you have access to a piece of software, and the package sells for
>	   more than the price of the media, many people think it is over
>	   priced.

    Not really, it's mainly the perceived worth of the product which
    equates to how often a person will use it in a day and to the
    sophistication of its functions.

>	The Rightbrain products at $90 were a pretty good deal considering you
>get the product, support and full source code.  At $45 dollars, they are a
>steal.

    Compared to $90, I suppose.


>--
>- Scott Anguish -
>sanguish@digifix.com (NextMail)
>

--

    Matthew Dillon	    dillon@Overload.Berkeley.CA.US
    891 Regal Rd.	    uunet.uu.net!overload!dillon
    Berkeley, Ca. 94708     ham: KC6LVW (no mail drop)
    USA