Is it really necessary...

[superman22x]

Well, those big creative suites aren't targeted at us. I honestly don't think they care if individuals use it for themselves(download it illegally). It's targeted for businesses to use to make profit. Not small timers. They make programs targeted for the average user at a regular price too.

 

[strollin]

There are lots of factors that go into the price of any product. Factors such as how many developers, how long to develop, complexity/functionality, how much research, how much testing, price pressure from competition, etc... Then there is the law of supply and demand where if there is no demand for a product they may not be able to give it away. If there is high demand then they can charge whatever price they wish.

 

[Äߧý∩†H♠H䎀]

for companies like Adobe and Apple to charge so much for Creative Suite or Final Cut?

i could never justify those prices, especially if i was part of a small business.

Do you think the people that build Final Cut work for free? If you're a small business or student chances are you don't need the advanced features that you'll get with a premium app like Final Cut. So, buy something that is less expensive that will do what you're looking to do.

I simply don't understand why people have this sense of entitlement to some things. Do you really need Final Cut or can you get by with a more basic application? Well if you can't, then that's why there is a premium attached to premier software apps. The better your products/servies are the more you can charge, it's basic economics. If I have a product that does 10x more than yours, why would I sell it at the same price?

 

[hamalnamal]

Do you think the people that build Final Cut work for free? If you're a small business or student chances are you don't need the advanced features that you'll get with a premium app like Final Cut. So, buy something that is less expensive that will do what you're looking to do.

I simply don't understand why people have this sense of entitlement to some things. Do you really need Final Cut or can you get by with a more basic application? Well if you can't, then that's why there is a premium attached to premier software apps. The better your products/servies are the more you can charge, it's basic economics. If I have a product that does 10x more than yours, why would I sell it at the same price?

I actually disagree with your assessment that a small business or student would not use most of the features in Final Cut or products in the Adobe lineup. As a former film student I can tell you i throughly used all parts of Final Cut I could find and would NOT have been able to do some of my projects as well with out it. That said there are student prices and I never had to pay much. The same goes for Adobe products except for the fact that I was never a student in graphic design, just a hobby.

Mind you since then I have found either workable or better open source alternatives to many of those products. The best example is probably in IDE's where Dreamweaver needs to die. At this point the only piece of proprietary software that I run on any of my machines is Photoshop, as GIMP still needs to do a lot to catch up to it.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

they are crazy about money!

 

[berry120]

If you're talking about businesses making money off that software then absolutely, it's legally and morally correct that they have to pay a substantial fee if they're looking to make substantial amounts of money off of it. Businesses won't (usually) run pirated copies either because of the hefty, hefty fines they face if they're caught (and it just takes one disgruntled employee to get them caught.)

Personal use however - that's a different story altogether. People can't and won't pay substantial amounts, and even the reduced price version some people won't bother paying.

I think there's a wider story here, that being where I believe the industry is heading in terms of software. Personally I think especially with the likes of open source software coming around (with the exception of games) software is rapidly becoming completely free for the personal route. Heck, there's very few pieces of mainstream paid software out there now that haven't got decent open source alternatives. Where there aren't the alternatives around, people will just crack the software without any moral quibbles at all, and I can't say I blame them. There's no way I'm paying a few hundred for something I mess around with every so often!

The money on the other hand has to come from somewhere, and this will be businesses. Whether it's in the form of paid software where they have to buy a license to use it, or even in the form of open source software where they will most likely get a support contract, the businesses will always be financing the product. Since they're the people making money off it I'd say this is a perfectly fair way of doing things.