BBEdit: Now $249
Posted June 30th, 2003 @ 09:02pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Not quite, but if you want every commercial release of BBEdit, you can have it for $249 on a special collector's item type CD-ROM (ad spied at MacMinute.com):
So, not only is this text editor over-priced at $149 (or whatever it costs these days), they actually think they'll sell a thousand copies of a CD-ROM that contains every commercial release of their over-priced text editor?
I love Bare Bones, and I don't mind paying the upgrade pricing for BBEdit as I use it every day, but it seems to me the folks over there are slipping more and more out of the grasp of reality…
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 9:09pm #
Yeah, that is a bit weird--that might work someday when technology has moved so far along that people are actually nostalgic for the days of simple text editors, but I can't see many people being interested in that now...
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 9:44pm #
Why is it out of touch with reality? It's not really a functional product, it a collector's item. I won't be purchasing the Anthology, but I do think it's a cool idea.
The 20th Anniversay Mac wasn't a state of the art machine, it was a collectors item (which didn't necessarily sell very well, though).
I'm willing to bet there wasn't a huge cost associated with assembling the Anthology. If Barebones can sell the Anthology, good for them. If not, it's probably not that big a money-pit.
Personally, my taste for collectibles tends more towards autographed photos as opposed to software collections, but that's just me.
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 9:50pm #
I've thought that BBedit was overpriced too, but then I realized how much I use it... And how much I make with it. Costing just a handful of billed hours, it's a steal.
I don't care about buying an old version though :). I also hate lowendmac.com 🙂
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 10:05pm #
The cost of a product has never been tied - very successfully - to the money you can make using it. That business model makes very little sense, and if it were so, many devices we use daily would cost a lot more. Instead, supply/demand rules. But hey, that's just a side snark…
Why are they out of touch with reality? Because nobody will buy the darn thing. That's all. Who cares what the cost of production is - why even produce it and advertise it? It makes you - asa company - look silly.
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 10:38pm #
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.
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 10:48pm #
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.
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 10:55pm #
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.
Posted 30 Jun 2003 at 11:58pm #
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?
Posted 01 Jul 2003 at 6:54am #
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. 🙂
Posted 01 Jul 2003 at 1:05pm #
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.
Posted 01 Jul 2003 at 2:42pm #
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).
Posted 01 Jul 2003 at 8:49pm #
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...
Posted 02 Jul 2003 at 11:09am #
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.
Posted 02 Jul 2003 at 6:32pm #
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.