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This is a perfect example of selling something for what it's worth, rather than for what it costs to build.
by fendrak 13y ago
This is a perfect example of selling something for what it's worth, rather than for what it costs to build.
- BHSPitMonkey 13y agoI found it amusing that customers were annoyed with the author for charging for "nothing". If the author didn't solve your problem, or if you could have done it yourself with no help, why did you buy it?
- Contero 13y agoI think an interesting implication of this is that people may feel satisfied having purchased something useless that seems to have enough "stuff" in it.
- joesb 13y agoAlso the same old argument used to justify piracy, that it costs next to nothing to copy bytes. And that the product is so not worth the price that those who pirates "wouldn't have bought it anyway", yet there they are using the pirated product, movie and music.
- StavrosK 13y agoIt's because people mainly perceive marginal costs in the goods they buy, and they don't consider fixed costs. In extreme cases like software, news, etc, they think "this extra copy didn't cost anything to produce, therefore it should be free", even though the initial fixed cost was substantial. This leads to some things like perceiving less competent workers' time to be worth more than more competent ones' (because they take longer to do a task, therefore they should be paid more), etc.
- icebraining 13y agoI don't agree this was the case here. They were perfectly happy to pay for a copy of the software, even though making another copy - as you rightly point out - costs nothing. They were annoyed because nothing had actually been copied. It's like paying for a product and getting an empty shipping box in the mail.
- StavrosK 13y agoSure, if the product you're paying for is an empty box.
- icebraining 13y agoBut they didn't know it was, which is why they felt cheated. It's not because of the marginal costs.
- BHSPitMonkey 13y agoWell, an inode was "copied".
- venomsnake 13y agoExcept not ... the cost to build was substantial. He had to educate himself how the machine and the OS work in detail. That is time and opportunity cost.
- greenyoda 13y agoThis reminded me of the old story about the engineer who fixed a complicated machine: http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/knowing-where-to-tap http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/knowing-where-to-tap