[HN Gopher] The high cost of software in the 1980s (2019)
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       The high cost of software in the 1980s (2019)
        
       Author : zdw
       Score  : 12 points
       Date   : 2021-11-01 22:10 UTC (49 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (robservatory.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (robservatory.com)
        
       | azinman2 wrote:
       | When you're going to sell low numbers of units you gotta make it
       | up in cost.
        
       | AlbertCory wrote:
       | dang's reference doesn't seem to cover Lotus 1-2-3 ($499) or
       | dBase II ($700) (or was it dBase III?)
       | 
       | I vividly remember, in the early 80s, a guy who's now a
       | successful VC telling me that there was no reason why software
       | should cost more than a college textbook. This was radical at the
       | time; now of course textbooks are much _more_ expensive if you
       | want to actually buy them.
        
       | flohofwoe wrote:
       | That's why DLC, microtransactions and ingame payments were
       | invented. Today the 60 dollars are just the symbolic entry fee to
       | the ingame shop ;)
       | 
       | (but for some niche genres this model works really well both for
       | developers and users, high fidelity flight simulators for
       | instance where aircraft are sold as DLC modules)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Discussed at the time (of the article, not the software):
       | 
       |  _The high cost of software in the 1980s_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20988512 - Sept 2019 (11
       | comments)
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-01 23:00 UTC)