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Re: Screen Size and Student Prices




Cliff wrote:
>	If you change the size of the screen *before* you hit the  
>first OK button, that will so change the number of pixels in the  
>virtual screen.  [...]

Great.  You might want to emphasize this feature a bit more when
you describe Executor.  I hadn't heard about it before, anyway, but
it is definitely a major advantage to using Executor on a NeXT over
running the same program on a Mac and their generally small screens.

>	We don't see any student/academic pricing in the near future.   
>Compare the complexity of our product to other other software on the  
>NeXT and I think you'll find that even without a further discount, we  
>are the leaders in complexity/dollar (where complexity is a rough  
>estimate of how hard it is to write the application in question).   

I agree.  However, it is important to note that people don't buy
products based on how complex they were to make, but rather on how
much the product will do for them.  In the case of student users
(that are fortunate enough to have access to a NeXT), "all" Executor
does is allow them to use the NeXT in the lab rather than a Mac in
the lab.  Worth something, yes, but not as much as buying a completely
new program (Word or Excel, for example), no matter how much more
complex Executor is.

Later, Scotty Turner flames:
>These people are living hand-to-mouth, narely eeking out an
>existance and you want them to give student discounts?
>
>Wow.

I appreciate their position, believe they're doing a great job, and hope
they do well.  Students, however, generally are also "eeking out an
existance", and so can ill-afford charity giving.

Not that buying Executor would be giving to charity.  Not hardly.  But
some companies view student discounts as a *business* decision.  I, for
a fact, know that I would have bought Executor long ago if it had a
student price of, say, $50.  At $80, I've hedged (I can, after all, use
the Mac across the lab).  I imagine that a lot of other students are
in the same position.  This is why Word priced at its retail price would
probably sell very few copies to students, but is selling like hotcakes
at its student price.

But this argument has been held before.  Executor is a great value as
it is, and I may try to scrounge up the money to buy it anyway.  I
can't help but think that they'd make more sales if they had academic
pricing, but that's their decision, and I wish them the best.

I apologize to everybody else for bringing this up.

- Trent Lange



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