On Mon, 4 Mar 2002, Nadav Har'El wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 04, 2002, Shlomi Fish wrote about "Slightly OT: Corel Students' Policy":
> >...
> > someone else for getting it for the full price of 2000 NIS. Naturally,
> > since I am a student who lives in a rented apartment and have a negative
> > influx, I cannot afford to pay that much. (nor my father, because he would
> > need a very good reason to spend so much on it).
>
> You're assuming that people who are not students DO have 2000 NIS to spend
> on a piece of software. Just like you say about your father, this is simply
> not the case for 99% of the population. NOBODY that I know will ever buy for
> 2000 NIS a piece of software unless their livelyhood depends on it (e.g.,
> you're a graphic designer and use corel-draw for that - even then you'd
> probably prefer Adobe's Illustrator...).
>
I heard Illustrator was more professional, but Corel-Draw is very sweet
and I like it a lot.
> Instead, most people I know would simply copy the software illegally.
> I, however, prefer to use free software instead. xfig is pretty good (I've
> drawn many professional-looking illustrations with it), and other stuff
> like pic and dia also exist.
>
I tried to use XFig and did not like it too much. Maybe I'll take a second
look. I also tried Kontour, Sketch and PSTricks. None of them was quite as
good as Corel-Draw. Dia is nice (although missing some important
functionality) but it's more of a Visio-replacement than a Corel-Draw's
one.
I like Visio too, and we have it at the Technion. However, we are not
given Corel-Draw for some reason. For EE-Lab1, my partner and I actually
found MS-Paint useful. %-)
> > I found a site which sells such software for American students for $100 or
> > so. That is a reasonable price. But it's only for _American_. MS Israel
> > gives rebates for students for most of its central software like Office or
> > DevStudio. And Linux is practically free for anybody. So, why can't Corel
> > follow suit?
>
> I think Corel Israel knows that even $100 (550 shekels, including VAT!)
> is too high for most Israelis, and 95% of the people pirating 2000 shekel
> software will also pirate 500 shekel software. So they give up on selling
> to individuals and concentrate on selling to businesses. When you sell to
> business your only price limit is your competition: it's not like a business
> is going to stop drawing just because drawing programs are pretty expensive.
>
If you say so. But obviously, I believe much more people can afford to buy
Corel-Draw for 500 NIS than with 2500. That way, they can propagate their
software and make sure more businesses depend on it. Microsoft did the
same trick. (although now it seems they have become too paranoid to think
sensibly)
> > Part of the reason people switched from WordPerfect 5.1 to Word was that
> > Microsoft gave it at a discount to course houses, teachers, etc. And I
> > still find WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS superior to Word XP, which is the
>
> I know someone from the US who did the opposite, bought WordPerfect instead
> of Word because it was cheaper. How many Israelis do you actually know that
> would do that? When you can copy (illegally) both of them for free, the
> individuals (not organization) don't really care about how much the software
> cost, to students, teachers, or anything.
>
I realize illegal copying is common in Israelis. But I respect
intellectual property enough, so I don't want to own a pirated copy. If
Corel blames the Israeli market for not being able to give Corel-Draw for
a bargain price for students it's some kind of "People are bad; Reality is
bad; ergo I have to be bad to adapt" thinking. Microsoft indulges in a
very same thinking mode, but at least I can buy their software for a
reasonable price.
> > If Corel does not enforce a global student/courses policy no wonder it's
> > still behind Microsoft. Instead of looking for places where Microsoft
> > abuses its power - maybe we should look for places where its competitors
> > are not acting just as wisely.
>
> The same student who can't afford a 2000 shekel software probably also can't
> afford to buy a computer, and uses the school's computer labs. What software
> you find there depends more on the prices of site licences for universities,
> rather than on prices to individual students. Does Corel have special prices
> for universities?
>
I have no idea. All I know is that the EE faculty's NT farm does not have
it, which I personally find very frustrating. (MS-Paint-wise). Naturally,
I have whatever Open-Source alternatives the free software world can offer
for Corel-Draw on my Com-Net computer, and I have found them useful at
times. But I think Corel-Draw is better for some of the things I have to
do.
Nadav and Gilaad: the issue here is not free software vs. proprietary one.
You can assume that I approve of proprietary software, and like using some
non-free programs in some cases, but am only distressed about the price,
and the conditions with which I'm getting it.
Regards,
Shlomi Fish
>
> --
> Nadav Har'El | Monday, Mar 4 2002, 20 Adar 5762
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
> Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |Martin Luther King said "I have a dream",
> http://nadav.harel.org.il |not "I have a plan".
>
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Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home Page: http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
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"Let's suppose you have a table with 2^n cups..."
"Wait a second - is n a natural number?"
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