There is already NO sense of value for software on this country — at least depending on the market segment. If you are a consumer buying a $500 computer then you don’t value software. And you really don’t even understand how a CD-ROM of office can be worth the same as the computer. It just doesn’t “compute” (sorry for the pun). And the blame for this has to go to Microsoft for bundling strategies, hardware makers for including Office so frequently and with Apple which is destroying the sense of value with all the bundled OS X software. And, you know something, markets change. In high tech we’re big on bashing the RIAA for not getting it and realizing that their industry’s economics have changed. Well, guess what? The software industry’s economics have changed.
Huh? Apple bundling the iApps is destroying the sense of value? I could see that if there were other apps that competed with theirs in all segments, but are there? And if so, are you locked out of using the others?
I see this a different way: a person who spends $500 on a computer might now spend more on software. The computer is worthless without application software, and I doubt consumers are having an issue with that. They may balk at the pricing, and rightly so: they’re paying for meaningless features and enhancements.
He speaks to some of this in points 4 and 5 below:
Given that:
1. So much software comes free with hardware these days
2. Hardware prices are now cheaper than software in a way that people not in the high tech business can’t even begin to understand “you mean that CD of Office-X is 40% of my iBook? What are you freaking nuts?”
3. The advent of free software
4. The simple fact that most software makers don’t do a very good job making stable, quality products
5. software has more features than we need OR can even understand (example — I use a 1999 copy of Acrobat regularly to produce PDF files)
our economics too have forever changed.
But I don’t see that the first three support the argument. Bundling (point 1) is a given: I don’t think it’s fair and as we see more and more access to broadband, perhaps we’ll see less of this or at least it won’t matter so much. The switching cost will go down.
Point 2? Well, run your computer with no applications and see what happens. This is like complaining that the brushes are free, why does the paint cost so much?
Point 3 is only valid for people who are willing to tackle something like Open Office (I’m not one of them) or people who run a lot of Open Source, right down to their OS.