This may be the longest lived thread yet.  Anyway, a small observation:
there appears to be (at least) two classes of vendors who use tier
pricing:

1.  The ethical sort, for lack of a better word.  These are the people
who really care about the 3000 market, and who use the tier model to
help new customers ease into it (I'm trying to avoid using that term,
'grow the market'; what are we, a buncha vegetables?).  Generally, these
vendors provide products that you don't mind paying more for as you
increase your CPU horsepower; the products are vital, and the upgrade
charges reasonable.  Wirt Atmar would be a prime example here, in my
opinion.

<Aside: I don't own QueryCalc, but have you ever seen it in action?  A
number of years ago, I received a demo of it; the demo itself was much
better than most 'real' products!  If it hadn't been for a budget crunch
....>

2.  The something less than ethical sort.  These are the ones who have
everyone upset.  They don't *appear* to care about the 3000 market, only
their bottom line.  Their products may be important, even vital, to your
operation, but their upgrade charges are so large that it makes you
wonder.  I've an example in mind, but I'd better not say.

My 2 cents,
Bob
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