From: adam@netcom.com (Adam J. Richter) Subject: Re: CD-ROM NeWS Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 01:03:05 GMT
In article <9939@dirac.physics.purdue.edu> bcr@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Bill C. Riemers) writes:
>Yggdrasil CD probably is also sold in much smaller volumes, so it is not
>surprising it costs more for the same medium.
LGX (Yggdrasil) has more sales volume. Just over 790 beta copies
have been shipped so far. In comparison, the last published statement
on the NeXT/tsx-11 CD put the NeXT side at about 300 and the Linux side
at over 250.
LGX is designed to be viable turnkey alternative to proprietary
software for a larger group of computer users than just comp.os.linux
readers, although LGX still does a lot for sophisticated Linux users
in helping to keep the software that you aren't following up to date
on your system, bringing you new interesting pre-installed software
like the video and sound stuff, and giving you convenient access to
big source trees.
In order to reach beyond comp.os.linux, LGX has to be able to
support a reseller channel. Also, in order to make LGX usable for
people who are not experienced Linux users, it includes a 3.5" boot
floppy, a 5.25" boot floppy and a manual, all of which make the
production costs much higher than for a plain CD. In addition,
there is a lot more engineering work and expense in producing an
environment like LGX than there is in dumping an FTP site. The
LGX beta CD was cut eight times before it was released. I've spent
thousands of dollars on hardware for testing, and this investment
has allowed me to catch a lot of show-stopper bugs that otherwise
would have made it into LGX. It is not unreasonable for a software
package like LGX cost $60, even if the NeXT/tsx-11 snapshot CD were
free.
-- Adam J. Richter Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated 409 Evelyn Ave., Apt. 312, Albany CA 94706 PO Box 8418, Berkeley CA 94707-8418 (510) 528-3209 (510) 526-7531, fax: (510) 528-8508 adam@netcom.com yggdrasil@netcom.com Another member of the League for Programming Freedom (lpf@uunet.uu.net).