Sure, Larry. I'll take your example and throw it right back at you. When I bought my Micron PC back in Nov. 96, Office Pro 95 + Bookshelf was bundled, at a marginal cost of $40 over Works (though it was set up so direct comparison was impossible, it was easy enough to figure it out). Because of random good timing, I could upgrade to Office 97 SBE for free or Office 97 Pro + Bookself Basics for $40. (SBE is a strange thing, it seems to cost the same as standard usually, so the stuff thrown in can't be worth that much).
I pondered the upgrade and paid the extra $40, though I wasn't sure why. Sometime between ordering and getting it I happened to check back at Micron and find that the standard bundled app was Office SBE and Office Pro was a $200 upgrade! I'd say there was a price increase there, although it'd be pretty hard to show it directly. Plus a downgrade from Bookshelf to Bookshelf basics.
And, there's been plenty of increases in the OEM channel, in the face of increasing volume, though it's hard to document. Non-disclosure and all that, plus the wrath of Joachim what's-his-name. Check out the ZDNN article from yesterday.
But, that's all BS, as you say. You can pick out some arbitrary app from 10 years ago, and compare it to Office, and there you go. Or, you can dig a little deeper, but then you might run into the "standard Microsoft business practice" we all know and love.
Cheers, Dan. |
