::scr (c)opyright

[Chris Heathcote]

on 12/11/01 8:48 pm, simon wistow wrote:

> I can't afford copies of Windows and Office but I need them to interact with
> the rest of the world . Therefore I wouldn't feel bad about making copies thus
> making Microsoft a victim of its own monopoly. Am I wrong?

Pricing on these products is a minefield. They started out ok, but had to up
the price with every new release, so they could charge existing customers to
upgrade. A new Office licence cost between 200-400 pounds.

Windows is still reasonably priced, give or take. Haven't seen how much
fresh install of XP home is.

There's also the odd situation of the products being reasonably cheap if you
buy a new PC, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Interesting twist on upgrade prices by Macromedia for Freehand 8/10 - they
gave away copies of Freehand 8 on Computer Arts CD, you went to a webpage to
register and get your serial number. All kosher. You can still upgrade with
this number to Freehand 10 (about 80 quid), or Flash Freehand Studio (about
150 quid - a saving of one or two hundred pounds).

I think it's because people are used to just having these applications (at
work etc., on new computers), and have never had to physically buy them
themselves... they seem expensive.

MSes answer to all this is subscription pricing - which will be far more
expensive over 3 or 4 years. Do people prefer this?

> I can't afford any more CDs than I currently buy - single sales are apparently
> down but album sales are up. One is caused by MP3s one isn't according to the
> RIAA. I tend to listen to MP3s now and then go out and buy the album and I was
> never a real single buyer. Does that make me wrong?

Singles were killed by the music industry. You used to be able to buy a
single (defined as: under 40 minutes) for under 2 pounds. Often several CDs
of mixes would be available, as well as 7", 12" and Cassette. Then they
changed the rules - a maximum of 20 minutes music, with up to 3 tracks. Only
3 formats count towards chart sales. Extras such as free stickers, posters,
or CDROM elements may exclude them from the singles chart. And prices have
risen to 2.99, 3.99 or even 4.99.

I used to buy 5-10 singles a week - I can't remember when I last bought one
under the new rules.

(this may also be because much of dance music has turned into shitty trance,
bad RnB, and so-called "garage" music... many pure house and techno releases
are now in album/CD format rather than just 12"s) - but that's another
discussion ;)

c.