Comments on: BBEdit: Now $249

By: Erik J. Barzeski

Erik J. Barzeski — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 22:32:28 +0000

Gee, thanks for stopping by Mr. President.

I hate wankers who can't use their real name far more than I dislike goofy commemoratives.

And I love - and pay for - every version of BBEdit.

By: George Bush

George Bush — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:09:37 +0000

It is a silly product, but it's not a silly commemorative. And that's what it is. It also emphasizes just how long they've been around, how many revisions they've had, and that they might have loyal customers who would buy such a thing. That is good PR, creates a good impression, and build publicity. (Hey, it worked in the negative for you, but you're talking about 'em. There's No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.)

Count yourself very lucky if such a product from Freshly Squeezed is at all conceivable at your 10th anniversary.

In regards to pricing, those who use computers to make a living don't mind paying for professional, reliable tools. It's worth every penny in that regard.

By: raoli.com

raoli.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 00:49:11 +0000

Farewell, Casady & Greene

Casady & Greene: It is with profound regret that we inform you that Casady & Greene will close its doors on July 3rd, 2003, after nineteen years in the Software Publishing business. We have endured many industry downturns, but the...

By: Tim Buchheim

Tim Buchheim — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 18:42:54 +0000

BBEdit's price is just plain silly. That's more than I spent on Photoshop Elements (which is a pretty good bargain, I must admit).

I use vim ... gvim if I feel like starting up X11. (Yes, I know there's a Carbon version of vim, but as of the last time I tried it, it had issues.) It does everything I want, and although I guess most Mac users would never want to use such an archaic user interface, I've been using vi for so long that my fingers know all the commands that I ever really need. For everyone else, there's emacs (which I used happilly for several years before my vi conversion).

By: Michael Tsai

Michael Tsai — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 17:05:31 +0000

I think the Anthology is a cool idea. What other autographed collector's item is so useful? Eric Blair and Eric Albert nailed it, I think. Offering the product is a fun way to celebrate their anniversary.

BBEdit's price compares favorably with other professional developer tools such as Script Debugger, CodeWarrior, Resourcer, and The Debugger. Or if you want to look at pro tools in other categories, check out Photoshop, Quark, or Final Cut Pro.

By: Erik J. Barzeski

Erik J. Barzeski — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 10:54:40 +0000

Well, my name is spelled with a K, so maybe I'll be a tom critic too.

For our tenth anniversary, Freshly Squeezed Software will sell everything for 10% off. How's that? Internally, we'll drink 10 cases of Coke, but we won't make a banner that says so.

By: tom

tom — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 03:58:42 +0000

cheers to Eric... well put. Eric J., are you leaving the software biz to become critic/commentator extroirdinare? (sp) ..ie....Winer a couple days ago, and now BB. Don't you want you own 10th anniv. CD?

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 02:55:21 +0000

Any productivity software that you use every day is worth $149. They don't sell it for that, anyway -- it's $179, according to their store. But they don't sell it for that, either, since it's only $119 if you "own" BBEdit Lite. Anyway, BBEdit is more than worth $179 to me.

I thought about buying the anthology, but decided not to. I think it's a pretty neat idea, actually. I don't think it makes them look silly at all. Instead, it's a nice way to remind people that they've been making terrific software for a decade.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 02:48:05 +0000

Honestly, I think somebody will buy it. I might be wrong (it's happened before, it'll happen again), but some people will buy it because they have the disposable income and they think it's a cool idea.

Why is Bare Bones selling it? To commemerate their 10th anniversary. That's worth celebrating. I see those ads and I smile -- it reminds that a small company can thrive making quality products. Companies often to goofy things to celebrate accomplishments like these. Some things are internal to the company (TiVo gave out personalize blue 5 Year Remote Controls to everybody who was there from Day 1), some are available to the public.

Does it have to make business sense? No. Does it make your company look silly? I don't think so.

By: Jon Gales

Jon Gales — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 02:38:53 +0000

Companies try though... Try buying Renderman or Oracle. It isn't a direct pricing scheme as other factors contribute (competition for example), but it pays major role.