I *really* think they're making a big mistake with this pricing structure.
Sure I want to support them, but when I can order the CD direct from
LinuxCentral for $2.00 (plus S&H), it's hard to justify $35. True, you
only get 1 CD instead of 5. True, you don't get the manual. But, once you
have the manual, you don't need a new one every 6 months (unless they are
upgraded more then I suspect they are), and you probably won't install 80%
of the apps on the later CDs anyway-- and those you want you can go ahead
& download.
I do want to support S.u.S.E. Having just recently started using v5.3, I'm
VERY impressed. It was simple to install, reasonably easy to configure, &
certainly more pleasant to use then Win95. But, as I said before, I think
they should seriously look at offering a reasonably cheap (~$20) upgrade
path. Otherwise, only a very small percentage of users will bother with
buying upgrades & will just download them or get the knock-offs from
resellers.
Mike
Bob Easton wrote:
> There's been a lot of back and forth about getting a straight
> answer from SuSE regarding the pricing policy. For what it
> worth, this is my experience: Back in Dec. I called the 800
> number and was told that I could order the Standard version for
> $49.95 or the subscription for $34.95. I was confused (nothing
> new there) whether I had to first order the standard version and
> then later buy the subscription (as an upgrade, in effect) or
> what. As it turns out, I was told that the subscription is
> _exactly_ the same as the standard version including the manual
> AND installation support with each new version that is shipped
> to me. Furthermore, you don't have to order the full version at
> all. Your first order can be for the $34.95 subscription. The
> next versions are shipped when they come out at the same $34.95.
> You have to explicitly tell SuSE to cancel your subscription if
> you don't need to upgrade. Technically, you can cancel after
> the first subscription - SuSE is gambling that you will buy at
> least two or more, I guess. You can cancel the subscription at
> any time - like maybe after the 2.2.1 kernel is finally
> included? Or cancel and then resume whenever an interesting
> feature is added.
>
> Is the German packaging and pricing done this way, or is what
> they call an "upgrade" really an incremental upgrade (without
> full support?) and not a full version? I suspect it is merely a
> translation problem.
>
> -Bob
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