Pricing a Software Product

prostoalex writes "Eric Sink from SourceGear shares his experience on software pricing. Whether you're developing open-source or proprietary software, the money has to come into the business in some form, and the article suggests several strategies as well as the pitfalls for managing software pricing. Sink claims it's tough to compete on price, dangerous to run seasonal promotions and almost impossible to avoid criticism on being over-priced."

Comments

Tough indeed

[Anonymous Coward]

Sink claims it's tough to compete on price...

Tough to compete with free on IRC, indeed! :)

Im gonna be rich

[Aceto3for5]

So how should I price Hello World? I just wrote it in C.

Hmm, competition? No competition! You can find some software books that show you how to make your OWN Hello World, but who has time for that?

Some of those books cost 100 Dollars or more... So that I dont look like an "underdog" im gonna charge $250 dollars. Even better, I could convert Hello World, into Hello World for Workgroups, change the font to something a little more professional, and sell it for $325 plus maintenance and security fees.

arts and crafts??

[fiftyLou]

Eric Sink
Software Craftsman

Craftsman?? Damned, Eric must've picked up one of those "Spam degrees".

SShhhh!!!

[Kjuib]

Don't tell people... our little secret will get out, then everyone will get their software goods off of IRC. Then the government or other organizations will take an assult on IRC... oh wait... didn't Bill Clinton pass some law prohibiting that?

Ahhh..

[t_allardyce]

So Linux companies need to put their prices up, don't sell Redhat to compete with Windows Server, make it 4 times more expensive and advertise as much as Microsoft do, then the PHBs will take notice. The SCO license fee could help here to - include that in the cost?

Re:better colors

[5m477m4n]

I thought the colors were in support of our troops in Iraq? They seem to be of the same desert cammo. Other wise they'd be just plain annoying.