bhyde@inmet.UUCP (04/19/84)
#R:hou2a:-32600:inmet:5800049:000:1292 inmet!bhyde Apr 17 11:41:00 1984 The price of computer software are much higher than the price of other software, i.e. books. It is insufficent to explain this by a smaller market size, the size of the market for a technical book is very small but they do not command prices like software does. The market for software is not very mature yet, this causes prices to be higher. The buyers are not mature enough to know what they want, and they are very afraid of getting burnt.. "better to bye lotus everybody else does." The sellers are not very mature.. "gee this is a neat idea i bet everybody needs one." In a fast evolving market is is foolish to use the law to solve your problems. If it isn't possible to provide good copy protection then software is in the same boat with the other software manufactures, i.e. books, and they had better learn to live with it. I wonder if we can hope to see the market mature? IBM's market hasn't yet. Of course my definition of mature isn't what marketing texts use, they mean a market that who's distribution channels have become well defined and where the parties envolved have become well trained in their use. What I yearn for is a highly informed buying public, i.e. one that would demand conversion paths from one generation's software culda sac and the next. ben.
Anonymous@iuvax.UUCP (04/24/84)
The "program update"/"author's sequel" analogy would be more accurate if it were "revised edition" instead of "sequel". Revised editions contain new or updated information, while sequels are usually entirely new, and stand on their own merits as well as following up a previous work (sometimes). Something like "Wizardry II" is a sequel (though you must have Wizardry to play it), but VisiCalc version 2 is a revised edition. ---- "Fritz! They've killed Fritz!" -- Allan Pratt ...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!apratt (please do not respond to iuvax!notes)