DOpus4.0 update
Expecting low-priced software in a small market leads to other troubles:
the market can't grow, because the products can't deliver professional
manuals, support, quality, etc. at those low prices. On some platforms,
$600 products are cheap. In the Mac and PC market, only recently have
cash-strapped companies resorted to "competitive upgrades" that have lead
to $150 top-of-the-line products. Before that, retail prices of $295, $395
and $495 were not uncommon.
A $100 retail price in the Amiga market is fairly meaningless. Who sells at
full retail? Dealers buy that $100 product for $60 or so, distributors buy
it for $40 or so, meaning the makers might see $40 minus their cost as
"profit". Assuming at least $5 raw cost of goods (the flashy box people
demand, a manual, the disk) plus any overhead of the company itself (phone
support, shipping, accounting, etc.) not even considering salary for the
people who had to work for how many months to make that souped-up "dir
util"… How do you expect anyone to make a decent living with those
numbers?