4 ms·

The FSF used to sell tapes with EMACS, GCC, etc for $200 apiece.

• tonyedgecombe 9y ago
  Presumably their customers were getting value for money, otherwise they wouldn't have paid for it.
  • coldtea 9y ago
    In this case, perhaps, but that's not a general argument though. Ever had to pay through the roof because there was a single vendor for something, like the single supermarket in town or the only coffee vendor onboard a train? Sure, you get "value for money" as opposed to not having the thing at all. Just that value is not a binary, it's a spectrum, and you might get too little value for too much money.
    • tonyedgecombe 9y ago
      I've had buyers remorse, I bought the coffee on the train then regretted it. But that was entirely my own doing, I didn't need to buy it. Sure, if your supplier has a monopoly on the essentials of life that's a different matter, but I don't think we are anywhere near that.
      • coldtea 9y ago
        I don't think "our own doing" and/or "the essentials or life" are a binary either though...