Jim Henderson wrote:

> There's a value proposition that has to be offset.

I have no idea what this accounting jargon means.

>> You would *think* making MathReader free would benefit Wolfram, but
>> apparently not...
> 
> It depends on the business analysis.  Wolfram might well have concluded 
> that not enough people need the reader to make it worthwhile, or that the 
> number of people paying for the creation software wouldn't offset the 
> development costs.

I should point out that MathReader is simply Mathematica with a few 
features turned off. The "development costs" should be minimal. (They 
probably spend more on testing it to make sure the requisit features 
really are switched off...) But sure, it's a cost analysis.

(Actually MathReader *is* free - it's just that you have to jump through 
hoops to get at it. But it doesn't cost any actual money, no.)

>> I always thought 2 for 1 meant "buy one, pay for two, buy two, pay for
>> two"...
> 
> Not really, "2 for 1" means "we normally charge x, but we've decided to 
> get you to like the product by either taking a loss or by cutting our 
> margin down by 50% or more so you can try the product out".
> 
> ie, "2 for the (normal) price of 1".

I see...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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