🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <ki8aqcINN7so@early-bird.think.com> barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
>Software is different.  Yes, there's some initial capital outlay, but it's
>relatively small compared to the cost of building a factory.  It presumably
>costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to build the manufacturing facility
>for paper clips that cost a penny apiece; on the other hand, it costs
>$5-10K to buy a computer that can be used to write programs that go for
>hundreds of dollars apiece.  The paper clip manufacturer has to sell
>thousands of boxes of paper clips to recoup his investment, while the
>software developer only needs to sell a few dozen.

This is a common statement.  It isn't true.  You forgot to add in manuals,
support cost, production costs, advertising, marketing, distribution...
and of course, salaries.  Programmers are a trifle more expensive than
paperclip builders.  All of which costs real money, and in some cases is
much more difficult than in other markets (software distribution and sales
in the Unix market for instance, virtually requires an in-house sales staff
- it's not shrinkwrapped like the Mac market).  A small commercial software
venture can easily cost in excess of half a million dollars just to get
started.  This is still problably cheaper than paperclips, but it isn't so
cheap that I'm not worried about recouping my investment.

>Furthermore, the software developer's investment can be amortized over many
>different products.  Factories can be converted as well, but there's

Possibly.  Depends on the experience of the developer.  I'm not going
to take a cobol programmer and tell them to go write X.400 software.
I may also need a very different set of development tools, and of
course the machine I used three years ago is probably not an appropriate
development tool for new software.  And if you change markets you have
to start all over on building your customer base and company recognition.
That all costs money.

Take reasonable marketing as an example.  We're just talking some basic
press releases, a press tour, and getting magazines to do some reviews.
Never mind writing articles on related subjects, or getting customers
to write up nice things or any advertising.  You're talking on the
order of $3 to $10K a month.

And then of course there's the problem of supporting the software on
machines you don't have, and the cost of cartridge tapes (or worse yet,
DEC tapes).  And the $30-$40K you pay someone to write professional
documentation....

Yes it's true that I can sit in a hole with a $6000 machine (and a
$600 modem) and code with no additional costs.  If I don't have to
worry about salary and insurance and clothing for my kids, and all
I ever plan to do is give away the software to people who hear about
it on the net.  But you know what?  If those are your assumptions, I
bet I could sell paperclips with an initial outlay of $6K too.  What
costs money is building up a production that is capable of making
money.  And that's true of paperclips *and* software.
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I'm not sure which upsets me more: that people are so unwilling to accept
responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate
everyone else's.