The effect of piracy on price?

[excalibur2]

[QUOTE=Splash;1023867]I'll answer your question with a question - why would anyone want to test a scanner or similar that runs on Windows 98 if they didn't have a copy?
QUOTE]

If you were given one, or a friend asked you to test it out.........hardly worth buying win98 for that to check on a spare computer. But OH maybe I'm the only person to have two computers linked together and one has win98 on a partition.
All Epson GT scanners before and inc GT 5000 only work on win98. Had do I know? cos I have one and am happy with it. Also a few old games seem to prefer win98, still not worth buying win98 for that also.

[excalibur2]

Now that you refer to it as copyright theft, I can see what you mean.

But it has no relation to tha point I made that you quoted, when you went started talking about theft.

My point was that WP are aiming at one market. You said WP should bring out a cheap version for the masses. I said You quoted that, and said


The only way I can interpret your comment about theft in relation to the post you quoted is that WP Corp are somehow committing theft in relation to refusing to bring out a low-end version. And I can't see how that makes any sense at all. And that is why I couldn't understand what you were on abpout - it was the context in which you made the remark about theft.

So my friend gave me a copy of WP5.1 what's the fuss about then...was it theft or not? remembering no way would I buy it anyway and the alternative was a free program that I was using...so who was losing money because of my actions.

[excalibur2]

Rip-off does NOT mean expensive, it means dishonest, fraudulent, etc.

http://www.answers.com/topic/rip-off

"A product or service that is overpriced"


http://www.usingenglish.com/referenc...s/rip+off.html

"Charge excessively"

[excalibur2]

Don't mention Lotus - it's so bad not even pirates will touch it..

BTW whassup with not using the quote system? Makes your posts hard to read!

Ah but we are talking about 12 -14 years ago........and using quotes? Haven't quite got the hang of picking out bits in a long post, seems a waste of space and it makes boring reading if you quote (repeat) everything.

[mike_w]

http://www.answers.com/topic/rip-off

"A product or service that is overpriced"

Overpriced compared to what? What I'm willing to pay? What you're willing to pay? What companies are willing to pay? I think that definition is far looser than what most people would consider a rip-off (or perhaps its just me!)

There is absolutely no obligation to purchase/use software. You are given a price, and can accept it or leave it. If you accept, you obviously think the price is worth the benefit you derive from, in this case software. Otherwise, the software clearly isn't worth that much to you.

If you ask me, a rip-off (or at least what I consider a rip-off) normally means that the seller was dishonest, or in some way misinformed you e.g. being told software has features it does not. Alternatively, it could be that you paid more than you needed to. In the case of WordPerfect, you knew what it did, you knew of alternatives (including buying NO software at all), and you knew the price. Since you weren't willing to pay the price, you obviously valued the benefit of WordPerfect at below that price, so you didn't lose out. The company can charge whatever price it likes - there is no obligation for you to have their product at that price.

[excalibur2]

Overpriced compared to what? What I'm willing to pay? What you're willing to pay? What companies are willing to pay? I think that definition is far looser than what most people would consider a rip-off (or perhaps its just me!)

There is absolutely no obligation to purchase/use software. You are given a price, and can accept it or leave it. If you accept, you obviously think the price is worth the benefit you derive from, in this case software. Otherwise, the software clearly isn't worth that much to you.

If you ask me, a rip-off (or at least what I consider a rip-off) normally means that the seller was dishonest, or in some way misinformed you e.g. being told software has features it does not. Alternatively, it could be that you paid more than you needed to. In the case of WordPerfect, you knew what it did, you knew of alternatives (including buying NO software at all), and you knew the price. Since you weren't willing to pay the price, you obviously valued the benefit of WordPerfect at below that price, so you didn't lose out. The company can charge whatever price it likes - there is no obligation for you to have their product at that price.

erm seems to me you're the sorta guy that would just go in a car showroom (a few years back) and just pay the asking price...it costs what it costs........of course you are not forced to buy a car when you can ride a tandem cycle with the wife and a trailer for the baby.

Also you wouldn't agree with the title of the thread (somewhere else) called "rip off Britain"......Oh wait the newspapers use that term as well, guess Oxford English Dictionary will have to update ver 3 for added uses of the term.

WP5.I was excellent for ANYONE typing letters, as it had it's own printer drivers and good spell checker in UK English...........the only problem was only businesses or the rich could afford it.

[directhex]

erm seems to me you're the sorta guy that would just go in a car showroom (a few years back) and just pay the asking price...it costs what it costs........of course you are not forced to buy a car when you can ride a tandem cycle with the wife and a trailer for the baby.

and you'd walk into a mercedes showroom and demand kia prices, driving off with the showroom model if they refuse?

[excalibur2]

and you'd walk into a mercedes showroom and demand kia prices, driving off with the showroom model if they refuse?

Erm No! The point was:- cars sold in the UK were more expensive than the same cars abroad, even allowing for taxes, exchange rates etc........This was a rip-off (a few years back). Joe public were stuck with these prices for years or they didn't have a car.

Anyway unlike WP5.1, Mercedes do have a range of prices from the rich to the less well off.

[manwithnoname]

It's a rip off at that price so I go and get a pirate copy... well no I didn't: there were a number of CD's that cost 12 to 15 pound each when they came out, too expensive for me so I didn't buy them.
I'm not sure if it's piracy or the availablity of cheapish downloads but I have mananged to expand my cd collection at the cost of 4 to 7 pound each getting those expensive CD's from yesteryear.

I don't see the difference between music CD's, DVD's and software, if it's too expensive to buy don't use it.

[directhex]

Erm No! The point was:- cars sold in the UK were more expensive than the same cars abroad, even allowing for taxes, exchange rates etc........This was a rip-off (a few years back). Joe public were stuck with these prices for years or they didn't have a car.

so you've completely shifted your pro-piracy argument from "i want the best software dirt cheap" to "doing business in britain is expensive"? do you no longer want the best software for free?

Anyway unlike WP5.1, Mercedes do have a range of prices from the rich to the less well off.

the cheapest merc is 13 grand new. the cheapest kia is 5.4k. do you really not see the comparison, or are you just being obtuse?

[excalibur2]

I don't see the difference between music CD's, DVD's and software, if it's too expensive to buy don't use it.

Well of course but there is a flaw in your argument in that some people just pirate it and don't care, that's the point in someone starting the thread.

[mike_w]

erm seems to me you're the sorta guy that would just go in a car showroom (a few years back) and just pay the asking price...it costs what it costs........of course you are not forced to buy a car when you can ride a tandem cycle with the wife and a trailer for the baby.

You're right, you're not forced to buy a car. Most people do, however, because they consider the price of the car acceptable compared to the benefit they'll derive from it. Many don't buy Mercedes because they don't think it is worth that much to them - some simply accept an alternative brand, some don't buy a car because they consider the price too high for the benefits.

And, incidentally, if I were to:

a) have enough money to buy a Mercedes
b) want to buy a Mercedes
c) have a driving licence

I would try and negotiate the price down - unfortunately, that's virtually impossible with software.

[directhex]

I would try and negotiate the price down - unfortunately, that's virtually impossible with software.

but you can shop around for a better price, most of the time. compare prices in-store for games in hmv versus play.com

[Splash]

I'll answer your question with a question - why would anyone want to test a scanner or similar that runs on Windows 98 if they didn't have a copy?

If you were given one, or a friend asked you to test it out.........hardly worth buying win98 for that to check on a spare computer. But OH maybe I'm the only person to have two computers linked together and one has win98 on a partition.
All Epson GT scanners before and inc GT 5000 only work on win98. Had do I know? cos I have one and am happy with it. Also a few old games seem to prefer win98, still not worth buying win98 for that also.

Firstly I corrected your quote tags. Secondly is there a scanner on the market today that ONLY works on Win98 that is better in any way, shape or form than the stuff you can get for £20?

Seriously, this is a convoluted argument and you're making yourself look more of a fool as time goes on.

[mike_w]

but you can shop around for a better price, most of the time. compare prices in-store for games in hmv versus play.com

Indeed - I suspect I spend far too much of my time trying to knock a few pence off prices! Still, I suspect we're moving a little off-topic...

[excalibur2]

so you've completely shifted your pro-piracy argument from "i want the best software dirt cheap" to "doing business in britain is expensive"? do you no longer want the best software for free?

LOL a friend gave me a copy of WP5.1 about 13 years ago and I'm a nasty pirate. And what's wrong with wanting the best software cheap, everybody want things cheap these days, have you been stationed on the north pole for about 10 years.
Anyway this thread has drifted but everything is linked if you re-read it.

the cheapest merc is 13 grand new. the cheapest kia is 5.4k. do you really not see the comparison, or are you just being obtuse?

It was irrelevent, and if you bothered to read all the posts you would understand why. Of course if you know the Chinese are doing a clone (pirating) of the Mercedes for the price of a Kia...I'm all ears. Not forgetting you can always download (pirate) a real Mercedes from the net in a fantasy world.