Hi all,

This whole discussion about tier pricing brings to mind the public dialogue
about the pricing of breakfast cereals.  It seems that there is a group of
people who believe that they have a "right" to reasonably priced cereal.
They say that the lower income brackets should be able to buy the "Chocolate
Frosted Sugar Bombs" of the world.  They also say that the manufacturers of
CFSB's have a social responsibility to make their product available to
everyone.

Maybe I am a closet Libertarian but I think that's a load of (excretory
noun of your choice inserted here).  First, we still have a functioning
free-market economy here (which some wag described as the worst form of
government in the world except for all the others).  Second, in that free
market economy, not all products are available to all consumers.  Heck,
I make a pretty good income and my wife still buys the mondo-sized bags
of generic Malt-O-Meal cereals for our brood.

Bringing this a little closer to home, I reiterate what I said a week ago:
If you don't like the price, don't buy the product!  The right to not
buy the product is the strongest right you have as a consumer!  Exercise
it!  That's what will bring corrective forces to the market place.

Having completed a recent stint as a general manager of a quality software
company (Lund Performance Solutions) I promise you that we didn't make
the decision to value-price the product cavalierly.  We selected that
model as the one best suited to bring complex products to a diverse
audience.  It ain't perfect, but it *does* work, *most* of the time.

Finally, let's all remember that when you spend money on software, you
are buying a license to use that software.  This causes the automotive
analogy to fall apart.  Compared more to renting cars, tier-pricing
does make more sense.  You pay more to rent a Lincoln than a Metro
even though they both have four wheels and are subject to the exact
same rules of the road.  Even this analogy falls down under much more
scrutiny but the thought remains the same.  If you don't want to pay
for the Lincoln, the rental agency is under no obligation to give
it to you just because you want it.

(Really) finally, this dialogue is in a fairly artificial environment because
there really isn't a lot of incentive for software vendors to enter into
a really public dialogue about this topic because they're "damned if you
do and damned if you don't".  And let's be realistic about asking HP to
help smooth this out.  It's hard enough getting them to do the really
important things like slowing down the tempo at which they are driving a
stake into our beloved 3000's heart.  They don't have any ability to
seriously effect what software vendors do anyway.  Maybe one day they did
but not anymore.

Besides, is this continued bandwidth on the subject accomplishing anything
more than healthy venting???

(Flamesuit on!)

Bill (don't do it no more buy my heart is still with them) Lancaster