Distributing SW online without printed manuals etc...

[Cryten]

Making a living on developing SW for the Amiga must be more and more difficult, and I doubt things will change much once Amiga OS4 arrives. One of the few things that may raise the margins, and thus the need to sell a huge amount of copies, is to distribute the SW online without any printed manuals.

One really bad effect that spring to mind is that online distributed SW would reduce the retailers income, and thus making it difficult to sustain a reasonable amount of retailers. On the other hand, most of us might actually enjoy an easer access to SW if we could buy it online and at the same time is able to download it.

Would you/we be willing to make this tradeoff to support a bit wider range of SW?

Just asking out of curiosity (maybe a poll would have been more suitable?).

[Cass]

The on-line distribution of software is good for updates (quick-instant), and for software that can fit into few floppies (AmiNet proggies, for example).

If you want a whole CD, with examples/manual etc, that would take ages to download (then again broadband connections get more popular, day by day... ).

Another serious point would be that of the retailers mentioned above.

I personally prefer the normal distribution of software with chartaceous support, and I don't mind if it takes 5-6 days more to get it home. It's something that you can read/inspect even with your computer turned-off ;-)

Not to speak of the strange feeling experienced after seeing the read "AMiGA" printed on the cover!

P.S. Even old software, gets a collector's value if it's nice boxed (compare the AMiGA-OS 3.5-3.9 packs!)
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IPAD GUIDES

[that_punk_guy]

Are you talking about the retailer's income or the developer's income? Because while online sales might harm sales through independant shops, they do benefit the developers by reducing the cost of distribution.

I personally hate paying for software and simply downloading it and getting a key in my e-mail. Maybe I'm just too materialistic, I dunno... I have a registered copy of Alcohol 120% for Windows which I purchased this way, and sat amongst my other software it looks so much like pirate software, I don't feel like I really bought anything 'cause there's no box or anything...

[Cryten]

that_punk_guy wrote:
Are you talking about the retailer's income or the developer's income? Because while online sales might harm sales through independant shops, they do benefit the developers by reducing the cost of distribution.

I thought I was quite obvious in pointing out that it would benefit developers, but might harm retailers   :-).  Anyway, I was mostly curious whether people would accept this way of distributing the SW if it would help boosting the range of SW available.

I guess we're all quite materialisticly oriented, even though most of our stuff just end up being stored and finally thrown away in a dumpster.

I think it would be a huge benefit for developers to distribute their products in this way, because it removes the risc of getting stuck with a storage filled with unsold SW that cost a fortune to manufacture (boxes, manuals etc). Then again, as been mentioned before, there's a huge problem involved for those that's stuck with a modem or similar DL-solutions. I guess they would have to provide a special solution for them (sending the SW on a CD?).

[Cass]

sat amongst my other software it looks so much like pirate software, I don't feel like I really bought anything 'cause there's no box or anything...

I have to agree on this one.

You should note that packaging is important and has some impact on the market (the price is "the most" important, I'd say ;-) ). Just take a look on this Software-Hardware bundle :



Looks VEEERYYY attractive :-D

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PERSIAN RECIPES

[Cyberus]

Cass, you look like you've drunk too much and put your hand in a pile of vomit in that avatar!!!

[Cass]

@Cyberus



This was my "Tom Savini" moment, not very well succeed though :-D :-D :-D

I just wanted to match the avatar with my signature ;-)
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FETISH KINKY

[Methuselas]

Cass, looking at that first picture just makes me DROOL. I want it, if anything, just for that BOX!!!! =^P

[Cass]

@ Methuselas

Well, I see that is tempting :-)

We should ask the developer's opinion on this subject. IO-Spirit for example gives you the choise: get the boxed version, or just download the software paying something less (not much a difference).

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Blowjob Nurse

[TanZyr]

OT: It's Uncle Tom!

Sorry, flashback from my days messing with special effect makeup.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic...