The major software companies moan about "pirates" copying/using their software without paying for it. There are of course other organisations who charge unfairly for software. The current ex-tax software prices for Adobe software products are a case in point.
If I download Adobe's InDesign CS5 while sitting in USA/Canada the price will be $699 US; however if I perform the same download from the UK the price will be $952 US. This 36% uplift on price is totally unacceptable. It is also bad business practice for Adobe. They'd actually get more business from me if they priced their products fairly.
Alaric
One of the main reasons Adobe charge customers outside the US more for their software, is because they think they can get away with it. They know that as much as some of us grumble, most of us think there is little we can do about it.
ReplyDeleteIn the 21st century it makes no sense that I can't download Adobe product for the same price as their customers in the US and while individually there probably isn't much I can do, I wonder if collectively we could organise ourselves to get Adobe to take notice of us?
For this reason there is a new Google Groups email list at http://groups.google.com/group/adobepricing the idea behind the group is to discuss ways to get Adobes attention and ultimately change what is an antiquated pricing policy.
If there are enough of us we may be able to use our numbers to get Adobe's attention by organising disruptive events such as calling Adobe support or sending an email to complain, although this would need a large number of us to be effective.
If you think paying more for Adobe Software because you're not living in the US is grossly unfair in a globalised world, please consider joining our group.