First off Bill, everyone does not steal. There are honest people in the world.
Second. How does someone using an unlicensed and unsupported copy of Photoshop raise the prices of legitimate copies. I would assume that the folks using the free copies would not pay $600 for it in any case. They would just use something else.
There are many folks who are software collectors. They have a copy of every piece of software they can find. They do not use the software. They do not need the software. They do not buy the software. How do they affect Adobe's sales?
Now both these classes of non-buyers probable brag on having the latest version of Photoshop and thus influence others to buy the software accually helping Adobe's profits.
Now the people who sell bootleg copies to unsuspecting bargain hunters do cost Adobe sales and rip off their own customers. They are plain and simple crooks and should be dealt with accordingly.
The way I always have seen it, is if I need support I will pay for it by buying the software. Although there have been a few companies who both sell at a high price and charge extra for support. Most of them have not lasted long.
I have quite a lot of stuff up on my website. If you make a copy of any of it for your own use it does not hurt me in the least. Now if you put it in a book and sold the book, I probably would take legal action against you (Hey, I want my split).
Someone stealing merchandize from the store is taking money; the store had to pay for the merchandize. Someone using intellectual property that they would not use if they had to pay for it is not taking anything away from the owner. In fact it could be argued that they are providing a service. One of the ways you become the leader is by having more people use your stuff. The more there who are using it, the more there are who will buy it.
graywolf http://www.graywolfphoto.com "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" -----------------------------------
William Robb wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "mike wilson" Subject: Re: Photoshop CS Bargain Basement
Let's say you are a member of a large orchestra. You take years to learn your instrument and weeks to learn a particular piece, along with your colleagues. A huge investment of time and effort. It is recorded and released on CD. Why is it $6, not $600? The answer, of course, is the effect of scale. At a cheap price, you can sell more and make the same, or better, profit. I know there are other factors involved in the argument but, for me, software is _grotesquely_ overpriced. It would be really interesting to see if any company had the mettle to reduce their price by a couple of orders of magnitude to try to corner the market.
I did a seminar a few years back with a very good and successful photographer.
On pricing, he said that if you want to drop your price 10%, you will have to do 40% more work to make up for the price drop.
My Photoshop instructor mentioned one time that something like 90% of the installed Photoshop programs are pirated, with the other 10% being legitimate installs.
People will take things for free if they have the opportunity, no matter what the cost is. I see it every day, with people shoplifting cheap trinkets out of my store.
Pirating is what keeps the cost of software high. If those other 90% bought, everyone would pay significantly less. The cost of theft is built into the price, and the honest consumers pay for the crooks.
William (no stolen software on my machine) Robb
