>>>Previously you got Works included and you could upgrade to Office (you say Pro so I will go along) for $40 dollars.<<<
Office, office, office.
What about developer tools. Today I have to pay 500 bucks a year just to get docs and sample code and libraries that are part of windows. That is sure worse than the 0 amount I used to pay for this service.
The C++ compiler used to be a couple hundred bucks. It costs me more than that to upgrade now. And by the way, even if I want to use somebody else's editor, and somebody else's class library, I don't have the option of not taking the bundled microsoft equivalents (any more.)
Microsoft mail used to be free. It was included with windows 3.11 and NT, back when they were busy trying to kill Lotus. Now that they made some market space, it's called exchange and it costs money. And somehow, they managed to kill my post office in one of my upgrades, so my microsoft mail stopped working even though I still have the software. There were a couple of costs there besides software costs, believe me. Like, I can't read my archives any more.
They used to have a windows/DOS combo purchase for around $69 if I recall correctly. What happened to that?
On top of that, their *percentage* of the typical new system sale dollar has skyrocketed.
OH, by the way, a call to technical support used to be free - now you often end up being referred to a 900 number. Is that a price reduction?
Books used to come with NT, and the C++ compiler, for that old price. Now the book set is another 100-150 bucks for either set. Add that to the price of NT, along with the 900 number tech support and the large network per seat charges and I bet the price of NT is higher than it was.
So please don't tell me about all the efficiencies. I'm sick of shelling out thousands of dollars just because my old stuff is magically no longer compatible. I'm sick of developer upgrade prices for bloated maldesigned tools that are higher than the price I paid originally. I'm sick of having to pay them to debug their software just because they own the game.
IBM used to say out front they were just renting you the software. Microsoft has you on the same treadmill but calls it a sale. |
