3 ms·

Don't forget silly things like fleecing European customers or region-locking.

• cobrausn 15y ago
  I believe 'fleecing' would add to the $M cost, making piracy look that much more attractive, and region-locking would most assuredly fall under (and add heavily to) the $P costs as described in the article, as would pretty much all DRM.
• davidw 15y ago
  Sometimes (but not always) the fleecing is being done by European governments. The Value Added Tax in Italy is currently at 21%, with the possibility that it'll rise to 23%! Not to mention various "fees" when importing stuff. They tried to get me to pay import fees on a birth certificate my dad sent me from the US. It cost him $50 to get it from the state of Oregon, so he declared that as the value (it would have cost him that to replace it, right?), and they tried to make me pay duties on that $50. I asked them what they thought the retail value of a birth certificate with my name on it was, and they backed down, but...sheesh.
  • kalleboo 15y ago
    And sometimes the fleecing is just fleecing. Buying Photoshop, U.S. English language, as a digital download from Adobe.com costs literally 100% more if my billing country is "Sweden" instead of "United States". Even Sweden doesn't have a 100% VAT. And digital downloads have no duty fees or international logistics costs.
  • paulhauggis 15y ago
    "The Value Added Tax in Italy is currently at 21%" Which is hilarious to me. Everyone wants socialized health care and huge government benefits..but then complain when they are forced to pay enormous taxes and take their mis-placed anger out on business owners.
    • davidw 15y ago
      That's actually a long and complex discussion, but suffice it to say that, overall, health care costs a lot less in Italy than it does in the US. The "waste" is elsewhere - people retiring at 59/60 and then living through their 90ies.