[comp.misc] Cost of floptical s/w distribution

lyndon@nexus.ca (Lyndon Nerenberg) (10/24/88)

In article <1517@maccs.McMaster.CA>, dan@maccs (Dan Trottier) writes:
> Plus it will add $50 dollars to the price of buying
>software.

Why? It seems that most software currently ships on QIC tapes. These
go for around $50 (Canadian). The floptical costs C$65 according to
everything I've read. Fifteen bucks isn't going to make a damn bit
of difference in end user price.
-- 

lyndon@nexus.ca (Lyndon Nerenberg) (10/25/88)

In article <74239@sun.uucp>, swilson%thetone (Scott Wilson) writes:

>Maybe the way to look at it is "how many $6500 machines distribute
>software on $50 medium."  To say that "most" software currently ships
>on QIC tapes is just false unless were talking about workstations
>only.

Sorry, I thought it would be clear from the context of my reply;
Yes, I am addressing the workstation market.

Just to prove a point, I see Sun charges the same price for QIC
and half inch tape distributions of SunOS, even though the "cost"
of half inch tape is roughly half that of QIC (based on SunOS 3.5
which was 4? QIC and 3? 1/2 in.)

My point is the media costs tend to get buried in overall "handling"
charge (e.g. FrameMaker charges CAN$150 for "media" when shipping
a single QIC tape).

[ This has nothing to do with comp.arch. Follow-ups to comp.misc. ]

--lyndon
--