Re: Ada vendors and the art of selling used cars

["Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org>]

Its pretty easy to go "Prices good until Whenevuary 32, 2001, Payable in US
dollars drawn against a US bank, Terms subject to change without notice."
Typically, the reason for not doing this is because then the product becomes
a commodity that is bought from the lowest bidder. (Its a dirty little
secret that marketing folks would rather you didn't know about. :-) There
are some currency exchange issues, but generally currency doesn't fluctuate
erratically in big jumps from one day to the next, so price quotes for
fairly inexpensive items (not, say $100m worth of Japanese steel - but a few
hundred worth of software) over a fairly short time is not likely to be a
problem.

If you can get someone to talk to a sales rep then the rep can start
pointing out the product distinction that justifies the (possibly) higher
prices. With Gnat out there downloadable free off charge, anybody who says
"Here's my Ada compiler for $20..." is at a disadvantage because $20 is more
than $0. Someone has to be able to explain that for $20 you get efficiency
improvement by a factor of 10, absolutely no bugs, free 24 hour a day
telephone support, and a rep coming to your house to install the compiler
and lean over your shoulder for the first month fixing anything that goes
wrong. (Now is it worth $20 to you? How about if I throw in a set of Ginsu
Steak Knives? :-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Matthew Woodcraft" <mattheww@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message
news:87bslabaro.fsf@chiark.greenend.org.uk...
>
> All these reasons would seem to apply to any product sold
> internationally, yet most companies seem able to quote prices.
>
> In my experience, computer hardware changes price much more rapidly than
> software, yet I see many hardware companies advertising prices.
>
> I think if you were to publish indicative prices in US dollars, most
> people interested in buying an Ada compiler would be able to make an
> adequate estimate of the currency conversion.
>
> -M-