I've seen this discussion around LW an incredible number of times. The problem seems to be exactly this one: LW may be a nice product (many experience lispers

I've seen this discussion around LW an incredible number of times. The problem seems to be exactly this one: LW may be a nice product (many experience lispers seem to think so) or not (as someone on this thread is arguing), but in all cases LW's price is seen as incredibly high for today's sensitivities, especially given that there are very fine Common Lisp compilers around that are free (although way less refined, in the GUI department especially). LW has chosen to follow this kind of 80's-like business model and it's certainly their right to do so. They certainly have their reasons. Although personally I doubt this road is future-proof (or even present-proof).