Yes, if a hobbyist absolutely wants to buy a Lispworks license, that should be possible for many people. But that isn't the only criterium. The question is: is

Yes, if a hobbyist absolutely wants to buy a Lispworks license, that should be possible for many people. But that isn't the only criterium. The question is: is anyone as happy to pay the price compared to spend the money on other things, like buying a camera or lens. There is some perception of value involved. For example I do spend a lot of money on my camera equipment and some people are suprised by it, though I spend way less on my car than they do. But on the other side, many people can't spend so much on any hobby or car. On the other side there is SBCL. This is really a great Lisp implementation, in some ways clearly superior even, this limits the amount what at least I am willing to pay for some fancyness of the commercial edition. As far as I can see, I struggle to preceive a critical advantage for Lispworks. And the price is way above the impulse by territory.