Hey guys,
I'd like to say a thing or two on this subject too. First, I
don't like this tpm model -- I'd *much* prefer to license by number of
users. A couple of reasons for this: 1) that's how every other vendor
I deal with does it, and 2) # of users is much easier to know ahead of
time for most of the (intranet) stuff I deal with. Now, at $7499 you
now get 100tpm, where you used to get 50 users. Hey, that's *at most*
a hit every 30 seconds/user. Depending on what the UI is like for your
web app (which the developer is frequently not in control of -- at least
around here), the 4.0 upgrade may hit the tpm wall before you can get the
50 users you (thought you) paid for in the first place! (Unless Apple
allows the upgrade customer to operate under the terms of the original
agreement -- ???)
I realize a lot of WO apps are deployed on the internet -- but
I suspect most people doing that are already paying for the unlimited
license - since they can't know how many simultaneous users they're
going to have.
With the exception of the occaisional "special promotions", I
have never been happy with WO pricing. Hey, I *know* its great
technology, I *know* almost all the alternatives suck in comparison, but
hey -- give us a break!! I've got to believe that most of the code in WO
(i.e., old NextStep/OpenStep Foundation classes) has been paid for by now.
I was really hopeful that Apple's merger with NeXT would get the price down
on WO/OpenStep and attract a larger following. Sad to say, the high-end
deployment option now costs TWICE what a little boutique shop (NeXT) used
to charge (remember $25000 for WO 2.0 Enterprise/Unlimited Lic. ?)
We bitch about all the shortcomings of stuff like ASP, ColdFusion,
etc. and say how great our (deservedly) beloved WO is. But for most of
the projects I work on, ASP becomes the solution because no one can justify
spending $7500 to deploy something that could be free. It would be one
thing if there was a $1500 - $2500 deployment option. But there's not.
Apple seems to be saying, "Yeah, we make the best tool, but we don't
really want to sell it...and it's only good for developing apps when you
have a huge budget."
I'm sorry folks, WebObjects is never going to be more than a
bit player in the big picture at these prices. It's almost like Apple
doesn't want to popularize the product and broaden the installed base.
OK, pardon my ravings. I'll go put my asbestos suit on now...
Troy
--
Troy D. Casey -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"I can retain neither respect nor affection for a Government which has
been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality."
-- Mohandas Gandhi (on Britain)
