Re: George Farr declares feature specific pricing onhorizon for WDSC

All the questions you are asking are on my laundry list of questions also.
Really, IBM can shine in this moment if they find a pricing model that fits
small and large development environments.  Sounds like you have a smaller
environment so hopefully you could get it at no cost. 

Again, if the feature list really does provide the ROI George claims (he was
visually excited) then I am interested to see what they have coming down the
pipe.

Aaron Bartell

-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Jim Franz
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 8:33 AM
To: Websphere Development Studio Client for iSeries
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] George Farr declares feature specific pricing
onhorizon for WDSC

BTW, I am installing my COMPLETELY FREE WDSC 7.0 as I type...

Aaron,
I'm confused. In the whole arguement about where WDSC is going, many have
noted we can't get something for free...
The development tools have NEVER been free (forget what discounts or bundles
IBM "partners" get). I paid thousands for the 5722-WDS Websphere Development
Tools, which includes the compilers, WDSC, Code, VARPG. All the way back to
release 1.0 we have always paid for development tools. The Software Support
agreement (more thousands) pays for the upgrades.
What is "free"???
What I see is IBM's replacement product to PDM has many great features, but
lacks (without Advanced Edition) the same functionality of PDM necessary in
day to day application coding.
Until IBM puts it in writing, how does one evaluate their offer?
Right now, a couple Advanced Edition licenses can exceed the cost of the
hardware & OS combined.
I absolutely agree IBM must do something.
jim franz

----- Original Message -----
From: "albartell" <albartell@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Websphere Development Studio Client for iSeries'" 
<wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 9:08 AM
Subject: [WDSCI-L] George Farr declares feature specific pricing on horizon
for WDSC

Hi all,

I was at the Systemideveloper.com conference last week and was able to 
attend George Farr's keynote address.  In the address there were a 
boatload of comments made by him that I plan on mulling over in the 
next few months, but one in particular that I thought was interesting 
was the approach getting money to continue WDSC development.

In the end we all know that the developers on the WDSC product line 
don't work for free, and the more burden they are to IBM the less 
throughput we will get from them (read they won't be able to hire and

expand as much as

they would like).   In an effort to address this George stated they are
looking to have customers pay for certain features.  For example if 
you wanted the new screen designer you will be charged $300/seat for 
that feature.  Note that is a "pretend" number that simply gives 
example to where George foresee's the pricing structure vs. the $4K 
numbers we were hearing about the AE purchase.

Looking at it from the big picture I'd say that they are right on the 
mark in charging for solid tooling.  If I can get second to none 
tooling, which I believe they are capable of, that gives me the 
competitive edge; then I am willing to dish out the cash.  The burden 
will fall on them though to make a creative pricing structure that 
doesn't paint them into a corner - the opposite corner of their 
customers.  What I mean by that is there are a wide variety of shops 
out there with varying environments.  What about the shops that have 
very few developers or zero tooling budget?  You don't simply want 
high paying customers using your product, because widespread adoption 
has nearly as much benefit as getting money - hard to have one without 
the other in today's tooling market.  I would love to see them go with 
a model that gives the first 3 to 5 licenses of WDSC to shops 
COMPLETELY FREE.  That would make it so small shops wouldn't be paying 
the expense and larger shops would be able to have their R&D teams 
fully test the features to ensure they wanted to make the purchase, or 
simply let the few that need to tool have it at a reasonable price.  
The other option of course would be to simply have site/machine 
licenses similar to how we have the compilers.  Maybe instead of going 
with a per seat license the simply charge $4K for a single machine 
which would be attractive for shops with more than 14 developers.

In the end our WANT to pay IBM money for features totally depends on 
us seeing things that will save us time/money in the long run.  George 
made it very clear in his address that we "..will not be 
disappointed".  We shall have to see what comes out of big blue in the 
next two years.  BTW, I am installing my COMPLETELY FREE WDSC 7.0 as I 
type this:-)

On last note I wonder if they will query customers to see what they 
are willing to pay in an effort to be in check with what the market will

bear.

Thoughts?
Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com
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