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From: kudla@pawl.rpi.edu (Robert J. Kudla)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Software Sales Strategies vs. Piracy
Message-ID: <6830@rpi.edu>
Date: 17 Aug 89 15:48:01 GMT
References: <208@crash.cts.com> <21585@cos.com>
Sender: usenet@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Lines: 69
In-reply-to: andrews@cos.com's message of 17 Aug 89 14:27:33 GMT

In article <21585@cos.com> andrews@cos.com (Andrew R. Scholnick) writes:

In article <208@crash.cts.com>, frankd@pro-pac.cts.com (Mike Snook) writes:

> Another approach has been adopted by the Computer Club Company.  All
> software has an encoded, unique, serial number which is tracked by
> sale and updated (if sold through a store) when the registration
> card arrives.  There is NO copy protection.  The serial number is so
> the company knows who to sue if a pirated copy is found.  Two
> encoding strategies are used, one for the serial number which is
> displayed at run-time, one for the (several) copies embedded in the
> code which are not directly accessed as data.  They are encoded to
> make it more difficult to find (and alter or remove) them.
 
Not to pop your balloon or anything, since I think you sound like the
ultimate in honest businessmen, but it's been tried with
Gods-know-how-many programs before on different systems..... if you
are shipping product to retail sources, and someone buys that product
and doesn't send in the registration card (I rarely do), then the only
thing you'll know is that someone who bought it from Random Store Inc.
pirated it. However....

> NO SOFTWARE IS SOLD FOR MORE THAN $20.  No matter how fancy.  The
> two software products currently (Nancy, a spelling checker and
> Zelda, a print/merge utility) are both $16.95.  Costs are kept low
> by using inexpensive (minimal) packaging and putting all
> documentation on disk.  The theory here is that reasonably priced
> software wont be stolen, it will be purchased.  So far this strategy
> seems to have worked.

While your packaging and method of documentation make your program a
prime candidate for piracy, I can't imagine doing so. A productivity
package (especially something like a spellchecker) for $17 is just too
reasonable. Do you make a decent profit? If I were ever to become a
developer, that is very close to my own strategy..... besides the fact
that fewer people would tend to pirate a BBS that cost twenty bucks,
it would help to undercut the bozos who charge $150 for a piece of
crap. (Are you listening, PP&S?)

> It is my opinion that any 'single disk' software product sold WITH
> printed documentation for more than $35 is price-gouging.  An added
> $5 per extra disk is reasonable.  I don't care how "useful" the
> product is or how much effort went into producing it, if it is a
> good product, you will profit at these prices.  For complicated
> products which require some customer support, I believe the buyer
> should be given a small amount of free support, followed up by paid
> support if they desire it ($35-40/hr is good).

That's what some of the big companies do even if you *did* pay $500
for the program. Hell, I know software consultants who charge $2000
for a customized software package and then go and charge $70 an hour
for service and support over the phone, even.... At any rate, I can
see where someone who spends $100,000 on R&D might feel justified in
charging a hundred bucks per program, of which they'd take in twenty
bucks or whatever. However, I can't understand why anyone would spend
that much on R&D for something thousands of people have programmed
before (wordprocessors, spreadsheets, BBSes, even art programs). If
you spent 50,000 man-hours on it, there's obviously something
wrong.... (disclaimer: I'm talking one software package here, not,
like, an OS or something)

I applaud you. I'm glad to see someone else has realized that there's
a middle ground between iffy shareware and overzealous pricing.
--
Robert Jude Kudla     
Pi-Rho America  \\        ///  Un-PC quote: Piracy is amoral; pirates who
2346 15th St.    \\      ///  stop because they write code are hypocrites.
Troy, NY 12180   /X\ \\\///  keywords: mike oldfield yes u2 r.e.m. new order
(518)271-8624   // \\ \XX/  steely dan f.g.t.h. kate bush .....and even Rush