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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>It’s nice that you can afford $2000 a year. </span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D'>J</span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>What would be even nicer would be for there to be a product <u>you</u>
could pay $2000 a year for, AND a product that someone who can’t afford that could
pay $400 a year for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Then Embarcadero get and keep 2 customers paying a total of
$2400 where they currently only have one earning them $2000 (or more likely just
a “fraction of one” customer, paying that price every other year or even every third
year, if they have to in order to stay “current” for upgrade purposes).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>The problem isn’t the price of Professional, it’s the fact that
that is the CHEAPEST version of Delphi available.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>There needs to be a Standard Edition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz] <b>On Behalf
Of </b>Kyley Harris<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, 21 September 2009 19:43<br>
<b>To:</b> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [DUG] A change in upgrade policy coming from Embarcadero<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>At the end of the day, I'd like
to know if Embarcardo is making huge profits, or losses.. or mediocre..<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>it benefits none of us if their
pricing is not sustainable.. <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Perhaps in all liklihood, most of
their revenue is from existing delphi owners, more than new customers, and the
upgrade prices is no longer sufficient to keep them afloat..??? its a thought..<o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'>I'd be inclined to think that the Upgrade is too
low, and the Retail is too high, and a nice balance in the middle of simply
setting one price for all, (new or old) and at a sustainable value would
benefit everyone the most... I would rather pay $2000 a year and keep them in
business, than pay $400 a year, and have them sold again and see delphi go down
the chute.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 7:35 PM,
Jolyon Smith <<a href="mailto:jsmith@deltics.co.nz">jsmith@deltics.co.nz</a>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>A sliding scale on the face of it
appears "fairer", but when assessing<br>
"fairness" it's also worth considering that someone still using
Delphi 1 (to<br>
take an EXTREME and ridiculous example) has not only not paid for Delphi<br>
2-2009, but has also not enjoyed or benefited from Delphi 2-2009 either.<br>
<br>
That's the additional "price" they paid for NOT upgrading.<br>
<br>
And there will undoubtedly be additional costs in managing an upgrade policy<br>
that differentiates between different types/loyalties of customer.<br>
<br>
Surely much easier to take a "No Nonsense" approach. Once a
customer always<br>
a customer and glad to have you on-board, no matter when you last spent<br>
money with us.<br>
<br>
Turning a customer away - explicitly or by disincentive - just because they<br>
haven't spent any money with you *recently* is just petty.<br>
<br>
Now certainly we can point to any number of other companies that don't offer<br>
various upgrade pricing schemes, the question is, is what's right for a<br>
XYX-Other product also right for Delphi?<br>
<br>
<br>
In this case, I simply don't see how it can be a commercially realistic<br>
business attitude - the people you are turning away are those people least<br>
likely to spend money with you already (by definition, because they haven't<br>
been upgrading and since that was their choice, there were probably good<br>
reasons, OTHER than simple cost).<br>
<br>
Those already spending have already spent. All you are doing is making it<br>
even *less* likely that those already *least* likely to spend with you will<br>
choose to do so again.<br>
<br>
But as I've pointed out before.... this is not really an issue for those<br>
using Delphi for commercial gain where the costs are relatively trivial<br>
compared to the rewards. My concern is for the hobbyist/community
developer<br>
that arguably has always been the backbone of the Delphi "market".<br>
<br>
Just look at the amount of community code now present in the editions we are<br>
all being asked to pay through the nose for.... FastCode, FastMM4,<br>
DevExtensions, DelphiSpeedUp, PNG support and no end of improvements<br>
*inspired* no doubt by community improvements in GExperts etc.<br>
<br>
All these things were developed and made available for free then poached,<br>
<cough> I mean " acquired for the greater good of the
community" by<br>
Borland/CodeGear/Embarcadero, but now we're told that it's entirely<br>
reasonable for them to charge TOP $ and we should just "suck it up".<br>
<br>
After taking so much from the Community is it really unreasonable to ask<br>
that a little consideration be given to that community (and I don't just<br>
mean in the form of compensating those individuals whos work is selected to<br>
make it into the product, but rather in terms of fostering that community<br>
further and encouraging *others* to make such equally valuable<br>
contributions, even if they perhaps aren't in a position to be billing well<br>
heeled customers by the hour to fund their Delphi habit.<br>
<br>
Borland were roundly criticized for turning their back on the "community<br>
developer", but lest we forget, it was Borland that (eventually)
resurrected<br>
the "Turbo Explorer" FREE editions.<br>
<br>
Embarcadero need to address the huge gap at the bottom of their SKU ladder.<br>
<br>
A Pro Edition that costs as much for a new license as a not-awful second<br>
hand car is NOT a viable proposition for a community developer, and neither<br>
are upgrade prices that cost as much as a half-decent, brand new PC.<br>
<br>
The Turbo's need to come back. And quickly.<br>
<br>
<br>
And I mean proper "Turbo's", with sensible limits. Disallowing
the<br>
installation of components is dumb, when a great deal of community activity<br>
is *creating* components.<br>
<br>
But equally supporting extensive refactoring and modeling and SCM<br>
integrations is dumb since these are the things that are of most value to<br>
someone who's "time is money".<br>
<br>
There should also be no restrictions on use, OR a Community Edition which is<br>
entirely free but which prohibits use for commercial gain, with a license<br>
upgrade to permit the use for commercial gain, without unlocking any<br>
additional functionality (or perhaps removing some watermarking, for<br>
example).<br>
<br>
Watermarking may be the way to go actually.<br>
<br>
Digitally signing any compilation products produced using the free edition<br>
and rejecting **those** binaries if you attempt to install them in the IDE.<br>
<br>
i.e. you HAVE to distribute source code if you create anything you wish to<br>
share, using the Community Edition.<br>
<br>
<br>
Now there's an idea.<br>
<br>
<br>
Having spewed/brain-dumped this lot into this email I'm now going to<br>
cannibalise a lot of this for a blog post I think, so apologies for any déjà<br>
vue you might experience thru Delphi Feeds later.<br>
<br>
:)<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><br>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><br>
<br clear=all>
<br>
-- <br>
Kyley Harris<br>
Harris Software<br>
+64-21-671-821<o:p></o:p></p>
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