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The Daily Whim

The Daily Whim

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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.

Posted 11:55AM, Sun, Nov 13 2005 in · · 7 Comments below


Peanut Gallery

1  emcee fleshy wrote:

Dude,
You alright?

Comment by emcee fleshy · 11/13/05 01:43 PM
2  Reid wrote:

Why, yes. I feel much better now.

Comment by Reid · 11/13/05 01:54 PM
3  emcee fleshy wrote:

Maybe this will make you feel even better:
—“If the Falcons sign T.O., I’ll disown my kid.” – Jim Mora Sr.

Comment by emcee fleshy · 11/13/05 10:48 PM
4  Adrian wrote:

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.

Comment by Adrian · 11/14/05 06:43 PM
5  rturner wrote:

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.

Comment by rturner · 11/14/05 08:43 PM
6  Reid wrote:

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.

Comment by Reid · 11/15/05 09:41 PM
7  Nigel wrote:

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!!

Comment by Nigel · 11/16/05 04:59 AM
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