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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 8 Other
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1996-01-07
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Subj: Shareware pricing Section: Marketing OS/2 Apps
To: Esther Schindler [EXEC], 72241,1417Thursday, January 04, 1996 8:41:07 PM
From: Warrick Wilson, 76514,1743 #70253
I gotta jump in here, though I've been lurking for a while....
When I first started using OS/2 Warp, about a year ago, I looked for shareware, and I had this
conversation with you and several others. I thought that OS/2 shareware was priced higher than
DOS or Windows shareware, and that this was hurting the shareware authors.
I pretty much still have that opinion, but I've modified it somewhat. I think there's been an overall rise
in shareware pricing, and I'm wondering whether it's in an attempt to garner more corporate sales. I
know that a lot of places think that $20 for a program is too little, so the program must be a toy, but that
a $50 or so price tag is a bargain. I guess I agree with Terry about the "sweet spot", but I think it's
related to the one who is doing the paying.
> I've seen studies. I've corresponded with OS/2 shareware
> developers, and I know their registration numbers. I don't believe
> your assumption is correct.
Have you seen or heard of any comparisons of corporate vs. individual registrations? Maybe it
varies by category of application? In particular, I'm thinking of something like ZOC, which can be
used by both individuals and corporate customers easily. For something like a database package,
then the corporate registrations may be more likely in any case...
WW
Subj: Shareware pricing Section: Marketing OS/2 Apps
To: Warrick Wilson, 76514,1743 Friday, January 05, 1996 8:50:25 AM
From: Esther Schindler [EXEC], 72241,1417#70290
No, I haven't seen any comparisons of corporate/individual registrations. Presumably shareware
companies who negotiate with corporations do so on a case-by-case basis.
Looking through the pile of OS/2 shareware, I see a lot of packages priced at the $25-35 price point. I
don't think that's excessive.
--Esther
Subj: Shareware pricing Section: Marketing OS/2 Apps
To: Esther Schindler [EXEC], 72241,1417Sunday, January 07, 1996 7:55:30 PM
From: Warrick Wilson, 76514,1743 #70558
> Looking through the pile of OS/2 shareware, I see a lot of
> packages priced at the $25-35 price point. I don't think that's
> excessive.
I agree! However, could you (in your copious free time, no doubt) do a very unscientific study and
determine how many functions the $25-35 packages purport to perform?
Here's my reason for asking: I'm looking for a contact manager program. I'd posted some requests
for recommendations. What I found were a lot of PIMs, that handle contacts, but also task lists,
calendaring, automatic event scheduling, etc., etc. - and all cost $45US or more. None had the
contact management features I was looking for. As a comparison, I'd cited DacEasy Rolodex - a
guy at work is using that, and it's pretty nifty in hacing lots of info available fast.
No doubt I might be able to do something similar with a database program. Can anyone
recommend one? Only the doodad in the Bonus Pak, and I'd actually tried that for something else,
and ended up deleting the Bonus Pak for performance reasons.
What I used to like about shareware programs was the high-quality performance of a fairly cohesive,
though likely limited, set of functions, for the $25-$35 you mentioned. What I'm finding now is requests
for $45 and up for something that's a stripped down suite of tools, many of which aren't all that robust,
or have a cursory set of features.
WW
Subj: Shareware pricing Section: Marketing OS/2 Apps
To: Warrick Wilson, 76514,1743 Sunday, January 07, 1996 11:54:00 PM
From: Esther Schindler [EXEC], 72241,1417#70567
If I ever have copious free time, I'll do that research for you. <grin>
(What is "free time"?)
Seriously... I don't believe that "counting functions" is meaningful. OTOH I think I do understand what
you're getting at -- that a lot of OS/2 shareware isn't as mature or full-featured as some of its Windows
cousins. Not to mention the breadth of choices... I've sniffed at some Windows shareware, in recent
weeks, and I'm very impressed with some of it. (Well, for Windows, that is.) I could name some
five-star OS/2 shareware products (in fact I have) but quite a bit of OS/2 shareware is, well,
bare-bones.
--Esther