delaneyg@wnre.aecl.CDN (01/25/89)
I was nice to see the new APDA catalogue and the continued support for APPLE II until I compared prices with the last APDA catalogue. The increase in of such things as the source code samplers now on Brownvm from $18.50 to $30.00 seems a little much. Virtually everything has increased in price except shipping which remains the same. I hope this is not the wave of the future it is now cheaper to get the Tool Box Referance manuals from Open-Apple oooooops! thats A2-Central now. APDA was a fast reasonably priced source for the manuals. Times they are a changing.... There are some interesting additions like APPLES (I hoped they fixed it) Icon editor and a clasification of each product as to its stage of development. I guess the marketing people thought it looked too good the way it was.
shawn@pnet51.cts.com (Shawn Stanley) (01/27/89)
delaneyg@wnre.aecl.CDN writes: > I was nice to see the new APDA catalogue and the continued support for >APPLE II until I compared prices with the last APDA catalogue. The increase >in of such things as the source code samplers now on Brownvm from $18.50 to >$30.00 seems a little much. Virtually everything has increased in price >except shipping which remains the same. I hope this is not the wave of the >future it is now cheaper to get the Tool Box Referance manuals from >Open-Apple oooooops! thats A2-Central now. APDA was a fast reasonably priced >source for the manuals. Times they are a changing.... There are some >interesting additions like APPLES (I hoped they fixed it) Icon editor and a >clasification of each product as to its stage of development. I guess the >marketing people thought it looked too good the way it was. I was equally surprised by the price increases. After a few calculations, I came up with this: Increases: Apple 3rd Party ---------- --------- --------- Apple II 40% 92% Apple IIgs 29% 60% Those are average price increases, taken from products that were in both catalogs. Apple's increases weren't spectacular, but their updates seem to have doubled. Many of the 3rd party software prices were doubled, although I hear that Apple sets these prices as well. The MPW GS software didn't change much. Basically, the updates were the only increases. A peek at the Mac software showed slight increases in Apple's areas, and highly varied price increases for 3rd party software. The db_vista software is now priced QUITE differently, while other Mac software had less dramatic changes. I did notice that there was a mixture of both Mac and Apple IIgs articles in the catalog. And for a minimum of $350 per year, you can join the new developer programs and obtain various benefits. This minimum will give you: o An AppleLink subscription, first month minimum payment pre-paid by them. o System Software Upgrade Program. o Optional Developer Library. o Developer training classes. o APDA membership. o Tech Notes. o Technical Guidebook. As for finding improvements that would explain the price increases, I am at a loss. You PAY for the developer services, if you want them. You pay a LOT, in my opinion. UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!shawn INET: shawn@pnet51.cts.com