Sun. Nov 13, 2005
Scrimping On Software
I know I’m fighting a trend here, and in some ways, a good one, but I’m wondering if there’s any way software manufacturers could possibly give me less physical product for my hard earned dollars. You know, real physical things I can wrap my fingers around or lay my eyes upon. Given recent experience, I don’t think they can, but they’ve surprised me before.
This is nothing new. I’ve gotten used to paying fifty bucks for some box containing state-of-the art game-ware, and when I open it, out comes a flimsy 5×5 inch piece of paper, a CD/DVD wrapped in a 0.00000025 cent paper wrapper, and a moth.
But today it happened again, from a company that’s supposed to “think different.” Now, Apple is slightly infamous for the packaging of their hardware, and I got a taste of that when I bought the Mac Mini. Very nicely done. I know it costs them a bit more (and therefore, costs me a bit more), but I think it carries a real value as well. It’s nice for a customer to spend a chunk of change, and get something that was packaged with care. And thought.
Well, it doesn’t carry over to software, apparently. I spent $90 to get a Jam Pack add-on to Garageband. I got the DVD wrapped in a 0.00000025 cent paper wrapper. I got, not one 5×5 piece of paper, but two 5x7 pieces of paper … and no moth.
Dagnabbit! Melt some chemicals together into a hard CD case that costs maybe 20 cents. Kill a tree and print that ten page listing of new software instruments and other DVD contents instead of putting it in a dad-blamed PDF … even if it saves you 50 cents in paper/printing costs. Do both of those things, and charge me a dollar. Stop playing the pricing game, and instead of making the Jam Pack $99, which retailers discount down to $89, go ahead make it a hundred bucks. Make another 30 cents profit off of me.
Please.
Published 11:55AM, Sun, Nov 13 2005
Category: Software
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Peanut Gallery
Maybe this will make you feel even better:
—“If the Falcons sign T.O., I’ll disown my kid.” – Jim Mora Sr.
The game with the free moth must have been a limited collectors edition!
I couldn’t agree more. If the software comes with a book and a proper CD case, I don’t get hot under the collar. I dread the day when they start packaging software in those welded plastic packages that need the use of power tools to open them. It is, unfortunately, only a matter of time, I fear.
But $90 is chump change. You’re lucky you got a cd. Spend some real money and you’ll get the pretty book. I’m still trying to get my head around the convenient holiday upgrades to Peachtree Accounting, Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Forget Studio; that’s been out of reach for some time now.
I’m working real hard to get Gimp to do what my Photoshop skill level can do. Buttons are in different places, but I think it’s a possibility. Gimp and no more costly upgrades…Thank You Jesus! Peachtree Accounting? Hell, my old stuff works, and I hate accounting anyway. Dreamweaver? grrrrr….I swear I’m not gonna upgrade this time.
I think this year I’m going to treat myself to some unbelievable natural gas bills looming down the stretch.
Ah, upgrades. To tell the truth, I’ve decided some programs have been around for so long and are so functionally mature that each new release is not an Earth Moving requirement. I upgraded to Photoshop CS, but not CS2. I didn’t upgrade to Studio MX2005, but I will get Studio 8, despite the $399 of hurt. In the next couple of weeks, as a matter of fact.
That’s why I love it when people ask me if I’m going to get Apple’s Aperture. Sure, I’m always looking for another $499 piece of software that must be upgraded every 18 months. You just can’t get enough of that…
But you’ve got to cut corners somewhere. Last week I discovered the price of cat food jumped to $9.63 a bag. That’s an increase of nearly twenty cents per cat per week.
So we told the three of them they’ve got ‘til the end of the month.
I’m still using Photoshop 6.0 (and it still works just fine!) I used to have a room packed with software and hardware boxes, and shelves of manuals. Having been homeless and for a while I’m a fan of PDFs now … hell who reads the manuals anyway. And as for getting upset when some of your software has been bundled with a FREE Lepidoptera simulation… well sheesh!!
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