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RANT: High Software Prices!
mouser:
This discussion about photoshop has got me thinking more about some of my feelings on these high end programs. I sometimes work with academic software, which has similar insane pricing schemes (go price matlabl).
Part of what makes people turn to piracy is when a company prices its products for one rich market, and prices it out of range of normal people, for the sole purpose of keeping the people who can afford it from paying less.
In other words, imagine the case of photoshop. Ideally, as long as they don't have to provide you with support, they aren't negatively effected if 30,000 high schoolers have pirated copies of photoshop and learn how to use it. In fact it helps them by establishing a more dominant user base and trained users who may eventually buy the program. But they can't "officially" give out those copies of photoshop or charge $5 for them, because they need to be able to charge the pros $500 for it. So we are left in this strange situation where companies are officially fighting to keep the program out of the hands of people who can't afford it, just so they can extract high dollars out of the people who can. This is the kind of thing that makes me long for the day when we can all pay what we think a program is worth to us (i know it's not going to happen im just saying).
in general i guess i evaluate companies and get a feeling for if i think they are trying to jack up their prices and update charges in order to maximize profits with no real "love" of their customers. i want to support companies which balance making a profit with having happy users. show me a company trying to bleed their users dry to squeeze the last drop of potential profits, and i'll show you a company whose users are looking for an excuse to jump ship.
tomos:
So we are left in this strange situation where companies are officially fighting to keep the program out of the hands of people who can't afford it, just so they can extract high dollars out of the people who can. This is the kind of thing that makes me long for the day when we can all pay what we think a program is worth to us (i know it's not going to happen im just saying).-mouser (April 18, 2007, 10:02 AM)
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I suppose they reckon as well that if they reduce the price the others - "people who can't afford it" still wont buy it - maybe they're right...
in general i guess i evaluate companies and get a feeling for if i think they are trying to jack up their prices and update charges in order to maximize profits with no real "love" of their customers. i want to support companies which balance making a profit with having happy users. show me a company trying to bleed their users dry to squeeze the last drop of potential profits, and i'll show you a company whose users are looking for an excuse to jump ship.
-mouser (April 18, 2007, 10:02 AM)
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nicely put!
I actually think the commercial world isn't so bad that way - just got to wait around sometimes for some other product to catch up :)
2stepsback:
hi folks,
what do you feel about purchasing expensive software in instalments?
does that help the situation?
It sure will help M$ since they've come up with the micropayments stuff (have an account - much like a pre-paid phone card)
what d'you say?
-2stepsback
Darwin:
hi folks,
what do you feel about purchasing expensive software in instalments?
does that help the situation?
It sure will help M$ since they've come up with the micropayments stuff (have an account - much like a pre-paid phone card)
what d'you say?
-2stepsback
-2stepsback (April 18, 2007, 12:01 PM)
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I'd go for it if the software was a "must have" (paying $600 in installments for software that has decent analogues at the $100 point is STILL paying a $500 premium, you just don't fell - doh! - FEEL it as intensely!)... this would at the very least alleviate the PITA of having to pay interest on my credit card (which is a roundabout sort of way of acheiving the same thing - buying somehting that I can't afford!) - which is something I try to avoid.
nosh:
I'm not sure there will ever be a collision between free and commercial software. Free software tends to be very small, simple programs that don't get significantly updated often and only do one or two simple things. That isn't bad, I use and love a lot of those programs and I've written and given away several myself, but when someone wants to make something really good, polished and powerful it soon turns into a full-time job.
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How would you account for Linux then? What about Gimp, Open Office, Azureus, Utorrent? I'm not sure about the open-endedness of some of these but I know for sure they're free.
People tend to get emotional when one mentions software piracy. Whether you take a moderate view and try to justify their behaviour or whether you think they're no better than drug-dealers is not the point here. The fact is this is a huge MAMMOTH untapped market out there and businesses need to find ways to tap into it. I don't know the numbers but the balance between honest and dishonest users is seriously lopsided. Even more so when you talk about countries like India and China. I can go out on the street in Bombay, India and buy any product for less than USD 1.00. Microsoft has the most ineffective anti-piracy campaigns going through the years. They plaster the city with banners urging the public to call the anti-piracy hotlines. Every kid around knows exactly where to find the pirated software but apparently MS with the millions(?) it pumps into anti-piracy doesn't. There are streets filled with shops thriving in piracy, the cops turn a blind eye. Every once in a while some loser who doesn't know how to handle his friendly (read corrupt) neighbourhood officer gets pulled up and gets his face in the papers. Score for Microsoft, except it's business as usual on Lamington Road. This scenario is almost certainly replicated in thousands of cities around the world.
You can hate those who indulge in piracy till kingdom come but the only ones complaining today are the legit users.
All I'm saying is the companies have to get rid of their traditional hard-headed approach and find a smart way to tap this market. Sure, there'll be a lot of people who won't pay even if a product is priced reasonably, but there will be people who will... for that "squishy feeling" or for whatever other reasons. This is one fat pie and if the sw companies can figure out a way to even get a small slice of it it'll go a long way to help everyone on the right side of the ethical line.
As a programmer I knew that good, powerful software like Photoshop was as difficult and time consuming to make as digital camera.
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Maybe much more so depending on the app you're talking about. The only reason I'm willing to pay more for a camera is coz my copy/paste shortcuts don't work too well with it. Nor, unfortunately, do they work for the manufacturer. The day that happens we'll solve all the world's problems. Well almost all - Sanjaya will still deliver cruel and unusual punishment whenever he sings.
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