In all the discussion of tier pricing, I think a very important point has
been missed.

It is very true that ideally, the free market should produce a reasonable
price for any individual piece of software.  However, I think our unspoken
concern is not for the competition between software packages, but the
competition between the HP3000 and other possible systems, particularly
networked PCs.

I think our concern for the pricing of software is related to the
competitiveness of the HP3000, and we perceive that certain members of the
HP3000 community are extracting excessive amounts of money without regard
for what it may do to the community as a whole.  They are killing the goose
that lays the golden eggs (or sh...ing in their own nest, to mix a metaphor).

As many of the messages have pointed out, discussions of "fairness" in
pricing have no meaning when they are applied to an individual piece of
software or a specific transaction.  The "fairness" is determined by the
free market.  But when looked at from the point of view of the HP3000
community as a whole, the idea of fairness has an entirely different
connotation, namely, "what effect does this have on the viablity of the
HP3000 and on our jobs and our businesses?".  The "unfairness" is not
directed so much at the individual customer as it is at all of us who
depend on the HP3000 for our livelihood.

I don't have any answers for what can be done about it.  But I do feel
strongly that this problem needs to be addressed seriously before we see
the HP3000 sink, weighted down by excessive software fees.  In many cases,
it may be a superior technical solution; but if some other solution is
vastly less expensive, that other solution is the one that will succeed.
For the well-being of all us, we need to do something about the software
pricing structure.



John D. Alleyn-Day
Alleyn-Day International
408-286-6421
408-286-6474 (Fax)
[log in to unmask]
http://www.Alleyn-Day.com