Software cost and edu discounts (was Re: Ada is not a failure.)

Software cost and edu discounts (was Re: Ada is not a failure.)

[Mark Atwood]

In article <1993Jul27.134205.7881@vitro.com>
mzwick@vitro.com (Morris J. Zwick) writes:
>In article <1993Jul25.065103.19504@hellgate.utah.edu>
>matwood%peruvian.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Mark Atwood) writes:
>>
>>True, your LEAP program makes a stab at it, but it took an Ada vendor too
>>long to realize what nearly every other software vendor knows, the schools
>>are what will sell you.  (And don't tell me about "finantial realities".
>>Once you have the thing developed, it's next to free to copy and distribute
>                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>This argument is specious. How do you expect to recover the costs of
>developing the software if you don't ask a high enough price?

I should have been a more clear on what I meant.  One of the weird things about
intellectual property (like software) as opposed to physcial items is that
the duplication cost is almost zero.  So if <Ada Vendor> sold their compiler
to businesses at the same high price they are currently charging, and GAVE
AWAY their compiler to schools, they only thing they would lose is the (small)
amount of money they would have made from the (very few) schools that would
have bought their product anyway.

Sounds like a low risk investment to me.

-- 
Mark Atwood                  | My school and employer have too many problems
matwood@peruvian.cs.utah.edu | without being blamed for mine.

Re: Software cost and edu discounts (was Re: Ada is not a failure.)

[agate!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!utnut!torn!news.ccs.queensu.ca!q]

   It would definitely be in the best interests of the big Ada vendors
 for platforms like Unix to offer substantial educational discounts to
 academic institutions. Meridian Ada and Ada/Ed are not enough for the
 trickle-up effect to really take hold.

   I doubt seriously that the discounts will happen, but when you look
 at how Borland played the game in the beginning and offered discounts,
 you can see that it pays off.

    Iain
/=======================================================\
Iain D. Holness  <holnessi@qucdn.queensu.ca>
Office Systems and Information Technology Group
Queen's Univerity Computing and Communications Services
Kingston, Ontario   Dupuis Hall G-254   (613) 545-6614

Re: Software cost and edu discounts (was Re: Ada is not a failure.)

[Laurence VanDolsen]

In article <1993Jul28.225732.20898@hellgate.utah.edu> matwood%peruvian.cs.utah.
edu@cs.utah.edu (Mark Atwood) writes:
>   ...  So if <Ada Vendor> sold their compiler
>to businesses at the same high price they are currently charging, and GAVE
>AWAY their compiler to schools, they only thing they would lose is the (small)
>amount of money they would have made from the (very few) schools that would
>have bought their product anyway.
>
>Sounds like a low risk investment to me.

I call this the DEC model.  In 1993 it is nearly impossible to sell any
computer other than DEC in any third world country.  Why?  First, DEC
made sure that every University in the U.S. with any significant foreign
student population had PDP-11s running out of its ears.  Now, every
third world decision maker with a U.S. education has prior experience
with and fond memories of DEC.  

Second, they set up maintenance shops overseas.

This was a huge investment.  As you point out, a software version of
same, aimed at the software engineering schools, would be a lot cheaper
and might significantly improve the odds of that software being used
five years from now.  Maybe that's why C has become so popular. :-)

One caution, vendors, don't forget to give the service at a comparably
reduced rate.  A compiler and related tools without support and upgrades
will create a worse taste than none at all.