Date:         Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:29:19 -0700
Reply-To:     RolandRB <rolandberry@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         RolandRB <rolandberry@HOTMAIL.COM>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Subject:      Re: Rant: I really hate the SAS pricing structure
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On Mar 11, 4:42 am, sash...@BELLSOUTH.NET (Paul Dorfman) wrote:
> > No doubt, SAS is a monopoly and therefore can overcharge customers at will.
> > I think something has to be done.
>
> > Audi
>
> Audi,
>
> Au contraire, there is a lot of doubt about it! SAS has got gobs of competition in every area where they offer services, including statistics, data management, data warehousing, and business intelligence, and in fact you have just named some of them. Therefore, they are able to charge what they charge because those who need their services agree to pay for them as an alternative to paying the others. Now go back and check your premises. Define "monopoly". Define "overcharge". And, especially, define "something" that has to be done to rectify the "overcharge".
>
> If, as you say, SPSS and others had already made products equal to if not better than SAS, the overcharge would have been taken care of itself, would it not?
>
> That said, I agee that charging different price for the same software depending on the power of the computer is a wrong model. However, this is just my private opinion. SAS is no less private, and it is their darn private business which model to use and/or what to charge for what. The last time I checked, there was no law forcing anyone to buy SAS software -- instead of SPSS, S-plus, Business Objects, Hyperion, Oracle (or DB2 or any other RDBMS), countless others, and/or use COBOL for all data management needs.
>
> Kind regards
> ----------------
> Paul Dorfman
> Jax, FL
> ----------------

SAS is established and it seems to me that the SI are milking it for
everything they can before the whole lot comes crashing down.