Reface pricing

[Fairlight]

You know...I just read the full list of what Reface does.  All the features
sound great, all the requirements are reasonable (although I have to wonder
when they talked resolution if they accomodated font scaling [like 125% of
normal like my ATI used to be set...so many applications don't that I had
to drop it and start squinting]).

My one problem with it in theory if I were to propose it to someone for use
isn't so much the pricing on the whole in terms of buying the development
kit.  It's the concept of paying that much and being limited to 'x' screens
before you pay more money for yet more screens from the same exact software.
Especially if you get to be profficient and are doing 100% of the work and
never call them again.  I can't see that going over very well, having had
firsthand experience with a lot of people's expectations of software
purchases and experiences with various vendors.

People have complained over the years that fP's licensing makes
increasingly less sense for developers, and nobody really likes to be
nickel and dimed to death.  People have an expectation that when they buy
something, they bought it and can use it reasonably in an unlimited
fashion, more or less.

If I see Reface hitting difficulties in adoption, it's in this one
area--how it's licensed.  That's like fP adopting a model that says that
the runtimes might be limited to 'x' users, but the development system
is limited to 50 tables and you have to pay to add 10-table blocks at a
premium.  I just don't see that flying--and shouldn't give Bud any "wise"
ideas, not that he seems to read anything anyone says or sockets would have
been bundled.  But by the same token, I think it's going to be a rough
sell for Sound Ideas, personally.  

I guess it depends on if that's really a software thing, or if it's
considered a support contract because they'll do so much one-to-one.  If
it's support, they're still better off from a perception point of view
splitting out extended support and unleashing the product limitation-wise.
Especially when someone gets profficient enough that they no longer need
more than once in a blue moon support.  People -really- don't like limits
on their software.  I'm having a hard time imagining any positive reaction
to that kind of pricing -structure-.  It's not the numbers.  They could
probably charge a couple grand more for the devkit...just not milk it per
screen count.  It's that people hate running up against arbitrary limits
for something they've paid a hefty amount for.  Users, I can see and it's
sensible.  Screens, not so much.

I mean, I'm just thinking about it, and I've seen places with like 80+ fP
files, and you know, 5-10 screens each for many of them.  They might not
all need refacing, but it'd be pretty easy to run through the first 100
screens and then some, depending on the application.

What I saw with the screenshots though...looked GREAT.  That -is-
definitely impressive!  That's the kind of thing that makes you want to
pick it up and play with it just because it's cool.

I just hope the technical merits outweigh the perceptions on the pricing
model they adopted for prospective buyers.

mark->
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