It's sad that people have been brain washed to the point where they have lost their imagination. I can think of 5 killer apps that nobody has even started developing yet. and the current software that has been developed can still be improved upon by making it more modular........ Yes we have a computer that can do several tasks but why should we have to boot a whole operating system, when all we want to do is use the calculator at one moment, the tv the next, etc. CYCLOX the caveman ---------------- On Friday 27 July 2001 19:43, you wrote: > I think software is slowly moving to the "commodity" state you > describe but I like to call "open source." Eventually software, > for most things, will be come so easy to create it will not be > worth keeping proprietary and all will be open source. It is the > future of software, eventually. I think it will take a long time > to get there and my wallet likes that. > > Alan > > At 03:46 PM 7/27/01 -0700, you wrote: > >David, > >You make some good points. Do you see software for most uses > > approaching a sort of "commodity" state where "it just works" > > and there's no real > > incentive > > >for users to upgrade? When you look at the vast majority of > > applications > > that > > >most people actually use, such as email, web-browsers, and word > > processors, there's really not a lot more that can be done. It > > seems to me that the biggest threat to proprietary software > > developers is that they can only sharpen the knife so much > > before users just don't care anymore. Version > > 19.7 > > >of "Knife" might be 3% sharper than Version 19.6 of "Knife," but > > most users aren't going to care and they're not going to be > > interested in forking (no > > pun > > >intended) over more money for a new tool that offers very > > minimal (if any) advantages over their previous tool. > >We've already pretty much reached the point of "commodity" > > hardware. Do I really care that there's a 8000.74THz Pentium > > 64 available, when my > > Pentium II > > >350MHz system does everything I need just fine? > >My point is, I don't think that the software or hardware > > industry can > > possibly > > >support in the future the incredible growth (and high salaries) > > that have > > been > > >present in the past. > >Microsoft realizes this, and that's why they're desperately > > trying to move people over to a subscription model for their > > software. If they can charge you just like the utility company > > charges you, then they can ensure a > > healthy > > >revenue stream for their future. But is the customer really > > gaining > > anything > > >over the old model? No. I'm almost positive that whatever > > "upgrades" occur will be minimal. Once Microsoft has you > > hooked on the subscription service for Office or Windows or > > whatever, they won't even need software developers anymore. > > :-) You basically pay over and over again to use their > > product, > > but > > >it's essentially the same product that had reached a certain > > level of functional maturity years ago. > >~M > > > >Quoting "David P. Schwartz" : > >> Every product you buy, whether it be at the grocery store, the > >> department store, wherever, has a portion of it's price going > >> to the retailer, a portion going to the distributor(s), and a > >> portion going to the manufacturer. Some of the amount paid to > >> the mfgr is for "intellectual property". Nothing you purchase > >> in a store costs even 5% of what you pay in terms of its raw > >> goods > >> costs. I don't get the issue people have around paying for > >> software. > >> > >> The only way companies can really make a profit is by gaining > >> leverage on their costs of goods plus costs of manufacturing. > >> An average employee who's paid $10/hr in a mfgr job is part of > >> a larger equation whereby the company is earning between 100 > >> and 1000 times that. > >> > >> The stuff inside a box of cereal costs less than the package, > >> yet people seem happy to pay nearly $5/box for cereal these > >> days. A floppy disk and CD cost more to manufacture than the > >> entire box of cereal. Some people argue that the major > >> difference is that cereal is consumable, whereas software is > >> not. I guess the same argument can be made about cars, that > >> they're consumable. > >> So you don't mind paying $20k for a car that costs less than > >> 20% of that in raw cost of goods. > >> > >> If you measured the "consumption rate" of software by the > >> number of times you used software, then maybe $5/use would > >> satisfy you for most needs -- but would you pay that for your > >> email service? > >> > >> We are able to earn as much as we do as software developers > >> because there is a far greater demand for our services than > >> supply, and because the results of our labors are HIGHLY > >> leveraged by the people who pay us. If a company isn't earning > >> 10x what they're paying us for our time, they're not being > >> very smart. If the results of our work were priced like > >> cereal, then we'd be > >> earning $10/hr, and the company would be earning 1000x our pay > >> off our efforts and we wouldn't be having this discussion > >> about "selling software" because it would be designed to be > >> consumable, like cereal, and sell for $5 per use. > >> > >> -David > >> > >> ________________________________________________ > >> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your > >> mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to > >> write mail. > >> > >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - > >> PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > >________________________________________________ > >See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail > > doesn't > > post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail. > > >PLUG-discuss mailing list - > > PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > ________________________________________________ > See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail > doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write > mail. > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - > PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss