Software Value

Mark Bernstein talks about the flap that came up recently over data loss - have a look here, but be prepared for a huge rant and set of counter-rants. The bottom line is that this person lost an impressive amount of data, and was upset about it. As Mark points out,

• All Software has bugs
• This was beta software with warnings

That's not the point that I really want to get to though. Take a look at Mark's last paragraph:

Software pricing is out of whack. In the instance, an influential professional was using free 30-day trials to select a professional tool she used extensively every day, a tool that was close to the center of her worklife. How much would the successful vendor receive for winning the competition? $24.95. This is absurd.

This is a general problem in the software field right now. People expect tools to be either free or cheap. Ponder for yourself what it takes to pay a few developers - plus the hardware and software (and office space) that they need to work. Now factor in the potential size of their market - and consider how many copies they would have to sell at $24.95 to even come close to the break even point. Now, if that software is mission critical....