Namaste,

I put forth the hypothesis that the high cost of software is destroying innovation.

The basis for my argument is this. I pursuit of some personal design work I was looking for software. The price is now of such a level that the individual designer or inventor cannot purchase the programs needed to create new software.

For Example:
Macromedia Studio Ver.8 - $989.99
Visual Studio.NET 2003 Professional - $999.00

It still amazes me how much computer information and programs cost. Is it any wonder that people use pirated software.

In Peace,
Eglaelin

PS. My solution is to switch all my software to Open Source and Linux based software.

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Like you said: open source.
Google "Open Source" then the term your looking for.

Heres one "OpenSource animation"

got hits for Blender. It is free. But complicated.

Also MS offers express (free) versions of Visual Studio 2005.

You can always learn C++ and make your own software. C++ is largely free (with compilers and ide).

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I blame it on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the most innovation-crushing piece of legislation passed in my lifetime.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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There you are!

Microsoft = NO innovation.

Thus my gripe against M$ for years.
They are a business like anyother, why spend lots of money on improving software when you can simply make minor changes, a few cosmetic changes and call it an upgrade and resell it at a higher cost than the previous version (perfect example M$ office).
Also in computing you are seeing the same thing as has been happening in EVERY industry...fewer and fewer and fewer competition through buyouts and mergers.

In the design world - there is Adobe...and they own at least 90% of software used by print media, there used to be dozens.
Adobe InDesign CS3 today - $1,185 (non-upgrade)
It's friggin nuts.

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The government cannot give without first taking.

Hooray student rates. I got Adobe Creative Suite for $300.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

no sh*t...goes to show you how over-priced the normal rates are.

You'd think someday they would look at how many student copies sell..vs. # of students there are...let's hope they never do.

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The government cannot give without first taking.

That'd be funny. IIRC it's $1500 retail.

Of course, most retail purchases I suspect are businesses. B2B rates are often high.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

Of course anyone so inclined can get all that software for free.
Just google "torrents" and go from there.

In the long run, copyrights mean nothing, they are there to defeat the free market, and create "gatekeepers" who can extract monopoly profits for a relatively short time.

Copyright violation used to be an industrial crime, where it is an enforcible concept. The idea that copying a file is illegal is ridiculous, and any law that makes it illegal will mainly be honored in the breach.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Yea, I've bought all my Adobe software from graduated college students who don't have the need for it anymore. Nothing like a jobless graphics design major in desperate need of beer money...

__________________
“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” - Carl Sagan

Remember to submit your nominations for the U.S. Politics Online Alternative Awards!

And the deadly cycle continues. Software companies raise prices out of fear that they're losing money to pirates, thus making more people turn to pirating...

__________________
“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” - Carl Sagan

Remember to submit your nominations for the U.S. Politics Online Alternative Awards!

How do you propose that authors and composers and movie directors and software developers should get paid?

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The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

He doesn't care. Those that steal software and music and movies don't give a shit about anything but their own selfish desires.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

nah..we're just tired of paying $16 for a CD where only 3 songs are good..

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The government cannot give without first taking.

Who buys CDs any more?

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

Obviously by providing a product that people are willing to buy.
There are some things that you just can't bottle up.
How do you stop people from singing a catchy tune?

Linus Torvald gets paid for consulting, because he is the worlds foremost expert on Linux , the operating system he created and gives away for free.
But Red Hat still makes money selling Linux, because they add the value of the manuals.

A business model that calls for the government enforcing your "rights" by invading people's homes and searching their hard drives for contraband, and then leveling a fine that is completely ridiculous, is not a long term strategy.

At some point you need to make a distinction between commerce and speech.
Exchanging something for something else of value is commerce, passing information to another without remuneration is speech.
One can be regulated, the other cannot and should not be regulated.

In the past, when a new technology replaced an existing technology, the providers of the old technology went out of business. Today we expect the same record companies to dominate the music business, because they have the money to pay lobbyists get laws passed that hobble the new technology.


When the automobile replaced the horse, it killed the buggy whip business, but we didn't insist on laws that required automobiles to be equipped with buggy whips.

If a company sells recorded music in CD form, there is no reason that they should also dominate the music download business, and there is no reason why the pricing of the music download business should be set to be competitive with CDs.
Why should a downloaded song cost as much on a CD purchased at a record store. Free market theory says the market price will approach the marginal cost in a free market. The marginal price of a download is close to zero, why do they charge 99 cents?

As with all other goods, a reasonable price in the legal marketplace is the greatest deterrent to a black market, an outrageous price in the marketplace spurs the development of the black market.

In the final analysis, only reasonable laws will stand the test of time, laws passed to allow special interests to gouge consumers will only succeed in the short run.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address