[NTLK] ATA ECONOMICS

From: eric engle (engleerica_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 16:34:54 EDT


The continuing ATA thread: I have tried to ignore it.
I can no more. Get out the asbestos mits.

1) 50 euros is not that much money. If you can afford
a 1,2 giga ATA card ;> you can also afford 50 dollars.
2) If you are poor and intelligent build it yourself.
3) If you are poor, intelligent, and shrewd you can
try to crack it. I do not advocate cracking, even for
M.$. products (why crack what is already broken?) But
really if you are that _poor (and I have been so poor
as to use "illegal" software on hardware I _salvaged
from the local computer repair shops dumpster - do you
know how much ware gets thrown out on perfectly good
"outdated" hard drives? I had a copy of photoshop that
way)...
Well I am fortunately not that poor anymore and since
I teach I can pretty much have all the free legal
warez I can eat on my athlon cable modem (god the
fringe benefits of this job alone are worth having to
read law). But if you are that poor get a book (those
books by the way are ALL free now including the
developer tools) and THINK. Trouble finding newton
programming sources? Ask!

4) 50 euros is the _current price. As people may have
noticed with Newtscape the price has in fact declined
over time. And this is very good economics. Why?

a) If the creator charges 25 euros today and realizes
he is undercharging then he cannot later realistically
raise his price
b) The people who are most eager to use the ware will
pay the highest price.

So: Someone thinks 50 euros is too much. Fine. Build
it yourself. Or wait. But why whine? If your point is
"hey you will sell more units at a lower cost" that is
correct. However that does not mean that you will make
more profit - the creator of ATA drivers thinks his
most profitable strategy is to charge a chunk for a
ware which will save you money in the long run and
extend the life of the newton platform at least five
years. His product. His price. And I am generally
opposed to property.

What I think was most unnerving is that Paul Guyout
(and Steve Weyer and every other Newton developer)
make lots of software for free. I doubt they are in it
for the cash! So why not look at the extra price for
the ATA driver as subsidizing the free ware which is
more useful if you are as I was the poor curious
person?

While the ATA commentator may have been merely trying
to make a self evident point about unit costs/sales
and could be seen as merely unintelligent I think that
is not the case and that he should in fact apologize.
If the commentator was in fact stingy, let me point
out the fact that you can now resell your newton
saying "hey it is ATA compatible!" The creator(s) of
the driver(s) have _added value to a "ded" platform -
including yours! They deserve THANKS not complaints!

Basically I conclude either the critic is
a) a well meaning, though unintelligent, fool
- which is possible or
b) stingy

If the former _I apologize: no point in abusing the
weak. If the latter he should apologize.

=====
My Web sites:
http://www.geocities.com/engleerica/ (law)
http://www.geocities.com/newtontechspecs (Newton!)

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