1-2 vs unlimited licenses (Unix for a 386)

[Conor P. Cahill]

In article <828 at cirrusl.UUCP>, dhesi at sun505.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
> Let's assume that the company porting UNIX pays AT&T a royalty of $50
> for a 1-2 user license and $150 for an unlimited user license.
> 
> If the 1-2 user system can be profitably sold for $x, then the
> unlimited user system can be profitably sold for $x+100.

wrongo.  A minimum algorithm would be if the 1-2 user system 
can profitably be sold for $x + $x*markup, then the unlimited 
user system can profitably be sold for $x+100 + ($x+100)*markup

where markup is the profit  percentage for the retailers.

A side issue would be that the seller has the choic to accept
a smaller profit margin on it's minimal package in the hope that
it will encourage sales of the items with a more acceptable
profit margin.

This is mechanism used by most grocery stores where they have sale 
items that are acutally priced below the store cost.  The store 
hopes that the buyer will purchase additional items once they
get into the store.


A second side issue is that I too am not all that happy about paying
$3,000 for my 386 OS, especially when I call the customer service line
and am told that I cannot get any direct support (I must go through
my vendor who knows less about the product than I do).



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