Re: Ada

[kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen)]

In article <3870DEED.4744AE18@quadruscorp.com>, "Marin D. Condic" <mcondic-nospam@quadruscorp.com> writes:
> Robert Dewar wrote:
>> Part of the reason I think this makes less sense than you
>> think is that these days students and other likely consumers
>> of such a package expect to pay $0 for it, and are not about
>> to go and plunk down a credit card at Fry's or anywhere else
>> to buy a package of this kind!
>> 
> You may be right. The only way to really settle the question is to
> attempt to do it and see if it sells. That can be pretty expensive. But
> do keep in mind that Micro$oft is out there selling shrink-wrapped
> versions of Visual C++, etc. and people *do* plunk down credit cards to
> buy that.

For a point of reference, the per-copy cost of commercial CD
pressing is about $1 from a big vendor to a small customer.
That is after a setup charge of about $500.

> Somebody must be making a buck doing that - is there a reason that Ada
> can't be one of those players? And a big advantage to being on a shelf
> in a computer store is that people who may never have had any knowlege
> or interest in Ada might happen to see it and be intrigued enough to try
> it out.

Do not underestimate the value of attractive packaging at generating
sales. Lots of trash gets sold in various fields through the use of
attractive packaging -- there is no reason to skimp just because the
contents happen to be worthwhile.

If it is a boxed product, be sure to include a printed manual.
When I examine sealed boxes wondering about documentation, I
often judge by weight :-)

This does seem to be the sort of opportunity open-source software
was designed for -- the add-on value provided by promoting retail
sales is just way outside the sphere of developing software in the
first place.  If the retail package should become so overpriced as
to be offensive, competitors will enter the market.

Larry Kilgallen