From: benw@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (bennett.weber)
Subject: Re: PIRACY v2.00
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 22:14:30 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.193309.16049@hubcap.clemson.edu> jmauric@eng.clemson.edu writes:
>
>they all have over priced software and deserve to lose.
If they can't sell'em, yeah, they will lose.  But prices on software
from the big boys has taken a nosedive recently...have you checked lately?

> is a spreadsheet
>really worth $500?

Yes, if that's the value to you.  It's a marketroid cliche, but customers
buy solutions, not software.  I had a customer once offer $10,000 to
buy a program that would be 100 lines of UNIX shell.  Seems outlandish
to you and me, but for him it solved a problem that cost a lot more to
leave unresolved.  A spreadsheet's worth $500 if you get $500 or more
worth of use out of it.  If you dust it off and boot it up once a year, no.

>and considering its been worked on since 1970?
>well lets see... 1992 - 1970.. 22 years.... ridiculous upgrade costs...
>of say $50 each year... thats $1100 that youve given then in just upgrade
>costs... not to mention the addition of the original cost which brings us
>to a grand total of $1550!

On the other hand, that company has had people working to do the upgrades
(and docs, and testing, and requirements, and marketing and distribution,
support, etc.etc.etc) for those years, too.  Hey, the upgrade cost may or may
not be high, but let's not oversimplify here!  BTW, 1970 seems a bit early!

> and all that for a spreadsheet??!!!!!! are you
>crazy? i had to write a spreadsheet for a computer class 3 years ago. it
>wasnt fancy, but i gotta yell ya... $1550 for it is just a little far.

Well, writing a class project 3 years ago certainly qualifies you
to bash the computer industry.  Do you think any of the large popular
software packages are done by one person?  Do you seriously think the
time and effort spent on your spreadsheet was even one thousandth of
what is spent on a polished commercial product?  Do you have the
slightest idea what a software life cycle entails?

>Plus if everyone was convinced that paying $500 for software and not pirating
>was an ok idea i dont think shareware and freeware would have come along.
>if it wasnt for the pirates, i dont think shareware would have come along.
>support shareware and freeware. its the future. its time to tell the
>commercial companies where to go.

But keep in mind that one of the reasons for shareware was that the
small-time developer simply didn't have the huge amounts of money
the big companies need and use to sell software through normal channels.
And, of course, that cost is absorbed into the software price.


>
>---
>
>                                            --John
>
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>Reply to JMAURIC@ENG.CLEMSON.EDU       |    300 Rippleview Dr.
>Phone: 803-653-3893                    |    Clemson, SC 29631
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>

						Ben Weber

						AT&T Network Systems
						@ Bell Labs
						Middletown, NJ


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Not speaking for AT&T
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