Hello Dave --great to hear from you, and with a wonderful subject :-) I'm happy to help, and can work with both Rob and Don (and whomever else would like to participate) on getting something formal out the door.
Is there a timeframe in mind? Next week, I presume? Thanks in advance, Sally >________________________________ > From: Dave Fisher <dave2w...@comcast.net> >To: dev@openoffice.apache.org; ASF Marketing & Publicity <pr...@apache.org> >Cc: market...@openoffice.apache.org >Sent: Wednesday, 6 February 2013, 15:54 >Subject: Re: $21 million per day > >Hi Sally, > >Please see this message thread: >http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/openoffice-dev/201302.mbox/%3CCAP-ksoiJx5QqRvAQpHTJJ2_VasPCji9gTi4R3PH8bg_ntwkJ9A%40mail.gmail.com%3E > >Rob is working on a blog post, but I think that this is something worthy of an >ASF press release as it shows substantial value provided to the public. > >Thanks and Regards, >Dave > >On Feb 6, 2013, at 12:42 PM, Rob Weir wrote: > >> On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: >>> Yes, yes, we're a non-profit organization. We don't charge for Apache >>> OpenOffice. We don't pay developers. But we still do produce >>> something of value, and that value can be estimated. >>> >>> People need office productivity software. The main alternative to >>> OpenOffice is Microsoft Office, perhaps the "Home and Student" >>> edition. The latest version (2013) sells for $139.99 on Amazon. This >>> is for the downloadable version. >>> >> >> So I'm thinking more on this, and there is an assumption here that the >> price I pay for Office in the US is the same as anyone else pays >> around the world. But this is unlikely to be true. This is a classic >> example of where the fixed costs are in the development and are high, >> and the variable costs are in the media and distribution and are very >> low. So a global vendor's optimal strategy is to adjust the pricing >> country-by-country or region-by-region, to maximize their profits. >> They can drop the prince in some countries and raise it in others >> based on ability to pay. >> >> I'd love to have some help exploring the magnitude of these >> differences, to see if they are significant. Let's use the price >> Microsoft quotes for "Home and Student 2013". We want the 1PC >> perpetual license, not the per-year subscription price. >> >> Start from here: http://office.microsoft.com. I had to then go to >> "Products", "For Home" and "Learn more". >> >> When I check the US price I get $139.99 >> >> When I check the German site (http://office.microsoft.com/de-de) I am >> quoted 139,00 €. That is $188.04 today. >> >> When I check the Australian website I am quoted $169.00 which is $174.42 USD. >> >> The Russian website quotes 3499.00 rubles, which is $116.30. >> >> So I'm seeing some higher and some lower. Does anyone see pricing >> that is outside of the range USD 116.30 - 188.04 ? >> >> This complicates the analysis, but I don't think it changes the story much. >> >> -Rob >> >> >> >> >>> We have averaged 153K downloads per day of Apace OpenOffice over the >>> last week. That is an average value to the public of $21.5 million >>> per day. Or $7.833 billion (7.833 thousand million) per year. >>> >>> To put that in perspective, here are comparable annual sales figures >>> for some familiar companies: >>> >>> -- Campbell Soup Company: $7.882 billion >>> -- Royal Caribbean Cruises: $7.657 billion >>> -- Mastercard, Inc: $7.391 billion >>> -- OfficeMax: $7.094 billion >>> >>> >>> So we're providing tremendous value to the public. We should be proud >>> of what we've accomplished over the past decade. >>> >>> Note: We could certainly debate the exact value provided to users. >>> Determining what a user would do if they did not get AOO for free is >>> tricky. But the logic above is similar to how the BSA estimates >>> losses to Microsoft from software piracy. They assume that the person >>> who pirates Office would buy it if they did not pirate it. So it >>> seems fair to use that same logic to estimate the value provided to >>> users by a legal free alternative like Apache OpenOffice. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> -Rob > > > >
