Deepak sent me this awesome article Joel Spolsky wrote on pricing. And if you cant understand economics from that article, my dear friends, I have no hesitation in labelling you a “Lost Cause”. It is hilarious and hits the nail exactly on the head!

I SO loved his ridicule of Windows Home and Professional editions! I do know some software do not work in the Home edition. The other day my room mate tried to install mySQL and it failed I think. Or was that IIS? Eh, I better start taking those “ayurvedic” memory pills =). But anyways, the point is, Home edition of Windows does not allow you to install certain software and that pricing strategy really really sucks!

Now Macromedia has come up with Flash and Flash Pro. And What does a Flash Professional edition contain? Integration capabilities with cold fusion, contribute and other software that nobody uses. Why?

But this article does leave out the nitty gritty issues: Open/shared licensing. The principle of licensing per user access, the principle of not allowing an evaluation copy to stop working (Winzip) and OEM software (which are cheaper than the normal editions). A very good read if you wish to buckle up and start saving on the amount of money you throw to buy useless software!