Follow Kahn's marketing model.

utiler · 14 Nov 2011, 04:30

I don't see the price correlation between floppy disk and 3D software...

Chris Fullmer · 14 Nov 2011, 04:40

Arguably, @Last (who first developed SketchUp) and then Google did that AND more.

Other 3d modeling packages go for $3,000-$5,000. So a mere $500 was a MAJOR game changer for people wanting to get into 3d modeling compared to the other big name packages. This was all in the Pre-Google days.

Then Google came along and bought it, and announced a completely free version. That was Massive. Its free, and you can use it professionally, for hobbies, anything.

So going from 750 down to 50 is one thing, but they went from 3-5,000 down to 500, then down to free. So maybe the Pro version isn't as cheap as you'd like, but they offer a free version, which is cheaper than $50

jeff hammond · 14 Nov 2011, 04:46

fwiw, I'm not saying your idea is dumb or whatever,.. I also wish software was 10x cheaper in general.. (but I do think if software companies decided to slash prices 90%, the would not 'make a mint'.. most would go out of business if everything else in the world stayed as is except their pricing)

anyway, I just wanted to point out that su8 free is way better than sketchup at the state when google acquired it.. and the inferior version was $500.. with no free option.

utiler · 14 Nov 2011, 05:01

good point, Jeff.

Gaieus · 14 Nov 2011, 13:48

I have SU Pro. But besides some testing things (that I am asked to do once in a while), I have only used exclusively pro functions just like about a dozen of times since I have had it (say 4 years). Unless you really need the "professional" workflow, why need pro? And if you need it (and obviously make money of it), why would $495 be so much for it?

mitcorb · 14 Nov 2011, 14:01

It is the age-old dilemma: First cost against "long" term return on investment.

Dave R · 14 Nov 2011, 14:36

I don't think $495 is all that bad a price compared to most of the alternatives. And since there is a free version, complaining about the price of the pro version seems somewhat ridiculous to me. There wouldn't be a free version at all if it weren't for the pro version.

Of course based on the OP's suggestion, Google could buy SCF and Sketchucation could become a subscription only service.

andybot · 14 Nov 2011, 14:41

@dave r said:

Of course based on the OP's suggestion, Google could buy SCF and Sketchucation could become a subscription only service.

what a perfect way to drive away users...

Dave R · 14 Nov 2011, 14:45

@andybot said:

@dave r said:

Of course based on the OP's suggestion, Google could buy SCF and Sketchucation could become a subscription only service.

what a perfect way to drive away users...

I'd think so too but the OP posits that Google would rake in the dough.

solo · 14 Nov 2011, 14:47

@unknownuser said:

Of course based on the OP's suggestion, Google could buy SCF and Sketchucation could become a subscription only service.

Does that mean they'd pay me to moderate?

Dave R · 14 Nov 2011, 14:49

I hope so. They'll be getting rich. The least they could do is pay the moderators for all their hard work.

Mike Lucey · 14 Nov 2011, 14:52

@andybot said:

@dave r said:

Of course based on the OP's suggestion, Google could buy SCF and Sketchucation could become a subscription only service.

what a perfect way to drive away users...

What type of 'users' would be driven away?

thomthom · 14 Nov 2011, 14:52

Cooookiesss!

Dave R · 14 Nov 2011, 14:55

@mike lucey said:

@andybot said:

@dave r said:

Of course based on the OP's suggestion, Google could buy SCF and Sketchucation could become a subscription only service.

what a perfect way to drive away users...

What type of 'users' would be driven away?

Those that think they should get everything handed to them for free.

andybot · 14 Nov 2011, 16:56

Dave - I did mean that tongue in cheek. I'm more thinking about places like NY Times, etc that lost a lot of looks because they tried to make people pay for something that has a lot of free alternatives. How quickly would an alternate SU forum spring up if this were to become a subscription site?

edit: (now that I think about it, the vray for sketchup forum comes to mind... kinda lonely there.)

Dave R · 14 Nov 2011, 17:08

I knew you were not entirely serious but on the other hand, there are quite a few folks around who think everything should be given to them for free. I can think of at least several members of SCF who aren't shy about it, either.

andybot · 16 Nov 2011, 14:08

and if I need to give credence to my point: Just saw this...
http://forum.sketchup4architect.com/forum.php

Mike Lucey · 16 Nov 2011, 14:49

@andybot said:

Dave - I did mean that tongue in cheek. I'm more thinking about places like NY Times, etc that lost a lot of looks because they tried to make people pay for something that has a lot of free alternatives. How quickly would an alternate SU forum spring up if this were to become a subscription site?

edit: (now that I think about it, the vray for sketchup forum comes to mind... kinda lonely there.)

I take your point Andy, but how long and at what standard can a forum like this be expected to run / operate at it current level without some form of commercialization.

Some stats, currently directors are putting in well over 120 hours collectively and Moderators are putting in at least double if not treble this figure, not to mention the Top Contributors! They, a larger group must be putting in well over 500 hours per week.

While I appreciate the vast majority on SCF membership want and expect everything for free, there are a group of professionals that generally have no wish to sign up with a pseudo name and ask their questions openly. The reasons are obvious!

I have been contacted / advised by quite a number of these professionals that they would feel far more comfortable in a 'private' forum here and would be willing to pay for this service. Of course the service would have to be 1st class and probably 24/7 which now might be achievable with our current level of manpower available.

This is something we are thinking of moving on very shortly. The upside for the membership not wishing or in a position to pay for services would gain in a way as their questions would still be answered. They just would not get the Directors / Mods / TCs undivided attention first. However having general questions asked / answered would be good as it would be useful for redirecting the professional subscribing membership to when they ask the questions privately.

It would be a bit like the Google SketchUp model in a way! Its the Pro Users that pay for the development of SketchUp, whereas the (free) Google SketchUp Users benefit also. Of course the free users they can't have the 'Rolls Royce' service but I think most would not expect it! As we all know, 'Beggers can't be Choosers'.

andybot · 16 Nov 2011, 15:31

That's a good idea - having some sort of tiered approach with support for those who subscribe($) while still keeping the bulk of free users.
I like.

brodie · 6 Dec 2011, 14:11

Interesting idea Mike. Is there a thread on this yet? If not it'd be interesting to see people comments.

My initial reaction is to oppose such an idea. I spend less of my time here these days learning things and more browsing through novice or intermediate questions that I feel I'm in a unique position to help out with. On occasion I'll still run into an question worth posting about or find a cool plugin to try, but that's less frequent than it once was. Separating us pro users off from the novice community could hurt the community as a whole.

On the other hand if I were in a primarily pro user community I wonder if I'd be better able to sift through irrelevant content and find more helpful information more efficiently and regularly.

I wonder, have you guys looked at any models of other forums who have gone through such a transition?

-Brodie