Saved Altair 4K BASIC

From: Hans Franke <franke_at_sbs.de>
Date: Wed Nov 11 12:07:50 1998

John:
> Sam:
>>Absolutely. I agree 100%. If he had priced it in the range that a
>>hobbyist could afford, and proportionate to the cost of the system ($500
>>for the kit?) then people would buy it. Its nothing to throw down $25 or
>>$50 if you're getting a manual and support with that.

> Pish-posh. In 1978, we're talking about a bunch of scroungy ex-
> or current- ham radio operators who'd cross the street to pick up
> two pennies on the sidewalk. Even today, why do people routinely
> pirate software that can be had for $20 in the CompUSA discount bin?

Shure, you never get 100% sales, but with a lower price,
the number of people buying will increase. Not only from
people not pirating, but also a lot among people who wouldn't
had the chance to copy and didn't buy because of the price.

Software is still not eatable (or drinkable) and people
don't NEED all the soft they are buying and copying. THis
just prevents them from paying a unreasonable price.

In fact, before the build in (Microsoft) Basic of my
Apple ][+ I never owned a Basic. Shure, I thought
about it, and was able to use it (tried HP Basic),
but there was no real need to pay money for a language.
I could do anything I want in Assembly. In fact it
took a long time until I found some usefull things
to do with HLLs other than Macro-Assm (Still today
most of my programming is in Assm).

All this moarning, crieing and juggling about piracy
realy misses the point. High prices could only be
reached if there is a return of this cost to the buyer
thru usage of the software.

Gruss
Hans

--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
Received on Wed Nov 11 1998 - 12:07:50 GMT

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