sgleysti wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 4:32 am
Walter wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 12:31 am
Prices for calculators, electronic test equipment, etc. etc.
with proper documentation are bundle prices generally, i.e. the company's effort for the documentation is taken into account. Where this doesn't apply, prices may differ.
Ahhhh.... this is where I misunderstood. I have never encountered the business model where the hardware and the manual are sold separately, with the hardware being at a lower price than the "bundle" price you mentioned. I just thought it was really strange that you would charge for manuals.
As stated before, I am accustomed to having the manual freely available, whether I have purchased the device or not. I often browse through the manual before I buy something in order to see how it works, particularly in the details.
(Warning: This may become a longer discussion but it may be necessary.)
Indeed, that's a weird business model. Rest assured that for '
manuals freely available', there's company-
internal accounting taking care of such work '
for free' being properly paid - and the device being priced accordingly (with or without a printed manual).
For the WP 34S, in particular, the 9 US$ requested are a
donation to the project which Pauli, Marcus, and I did for free. 3 US$ for each of us are a symbolic price showing a little (3-US$-worth) appreciation for our work - although we know the internet provides far more subtle methods of paying for '
free' contents (which, alas, we can't use).
sgleysti wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 4:32 am
To be quite honest, if Swiss Micros were to adopt the same business model where they charged a bit less for their hardware but also charged for the manual, I would probably have never bought one of their products, as it feels like holding important information about the usage of the device hostage, in a sense (the language is extreme, but that's the feeling I get).
I concur in principle but ... you may experience really weird business models in real life, weirder than you imagined in your wildest dreams:
Let's assume a company (call it e.g. RL) selling calculators. For a special model, RL has outsourced SW development as well as documentation to two subcontractors, AB and CD. In consequence, RL provides the HW plus some basic OS, takes the SW developed and written by AB and the docs authored by CD, bundles HW, SW, and docs, and sells this package (branded RL) for a price XY. The incoming $$$ go to RL and (surprise!) stay there entirely - exactly 0.00 go to AB and CD.
Certainly you'd call that not a fair share, politely spoken, but nevertheless such attitudes may be observed. That may cause e.g. docs sold for a price >0 by CD then.
sgleysti wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 4:32 am
The direction the C47 team is going in terms of developing an open and freely available manual seems much more aligned with both the norms of the calculator community and with people's expectations.
May well be aligned with people's expectations. Though I don't see a manual of C47 yet. Wait and watch.