Why?

[Dave Sill de5@sws5.ctd.ornl.gov]

In article <42bea1$sm6@wolfe.wimsey.com> curt@cynic.portal.CA (Curt Sampson) writes:

> In article <DE5.95Aug30084445@sws5.CTD.ORNL.GOV>,
> Dave Sill <de5@sws5.ctd.ornl.GOV> wrote:
> >
> >If $350 is a give-away, why not just sell it for $50-100 (to cover
> >distribution costs)?
> 
> How do you know that $50-$100 would cover distribution costs?

My benchmark is Linux. There are 4-CD Linux distributions that sell
for $25. Surely Plan 9 source, docs & binaries would fit on a couple
CD's--forget the printed manuals.

> Regardless, I don't see what the big problem with $350 is. There
> are a lot of other areas of interest where you would have to justify
> sums either similar or an order of magnitude larger, that to many
> will seem unjustifiable.

I just think Plan 9 would have a bigger impact, and sooner, if it was
less expensive. Yes, I *could* find $350...if I wanted it that
badly. Think how many more people would buy it, try it, and hack on it
if it was $50...
 
-- 
Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov)          <URL:http://www.digital.com/info/dsill.html>
Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Oak Ridge National Lab, Workstation Support