Re: Rip, just another rip-off or money well spent?

["Rafe B." <rafeb@channel1.com>]

At 05:02 PM 7/12/99 -0700, Ken K wrote:
>J. Arthur Davis wrote:
>> 
>> >
>> > For $250, you get a damned nice printer, plus software,
>> > from Epson.  RIP vendors only have to supply the
>> > software.  You're telling me they can't get adequate
>> > profits at $250 a pop?  If the quality and *utility*
>> > of such a thing were apparent to us amateurs, there
>> > would almost certainly be a sufficient market to make
>> > such a thing profitable.


No he didn't.  That was me.  Not a problem;
attributions can be a bitch.

I remember a little company called Borland
that made its start (in the PC world) marketing
a complete Pascal compiler/editor/development
system for $50, at a time when the equivalent
tools from Microsoft were selling for $250 or so.

Borland went on to big success (and subsequent
failure, for other reasons) but that story's
always been a poignant one to me.

Lower the profit margin and increase the market
share... do it right, and you can make more 
money instead of less.  Real capitalists focus
on market share, not profits.  (Or, more 
accurately, market share as a means to greater
long-term profits, not to mention stability.)

If the tool costs $1000, I'll find a way to
steal it, and the software house won't get
a dime from me.  If they sell it at 1/3 or 1/2 
of that, I'll buy it and play by the rules.


rafe b.


-
Please: Stay on topic. Trim quoted messages.
http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions.