"Stephen Leake" <stephen.a.leake.1@gsfc.nasa.gov> a �crit dans le message
news: uelqpgmrx.fsf@gsfc.nasa.gov...
> Actually, they do. Part of the cost of the TV set is paying for the
> mortgage on the current factory, and investing in the next factory.
> Same for Ada libraries; somebody has to pay for them. Part of the fee
> we pay to ACT for support goes to building new libraries.

What you pay a specific company like ACT for what they provide is your
decision.
We were talking about Ada and libraries in a much more global way.

> The difference is in scale. When you sell millions of TVs, the
> incremental cost of the next factory for each TV set is very small.
> But ACT only sells hundreds (I'm guessing here) of support contracts,
> so the incremental cost is higher.

No the difference is that you pay for the product you want to buy, once the
product is finished, available, working, if you like it, and if there is not
a cheaper better one besides.
You don't pay to build the factory, the company invest a lot, and can count
on an income only if the result is good.
I'd really like to see you in a TV store :-)
"Stephen, give me money now, I'm going to develop a great TV set, build a
factory, and I promise you will have a great TV set within a few years ..."