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2020 Bundles

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Re: 2020 Bundles

#61

Post by scarface74 »

iad wrote: post #59
robotresearcher wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are deliberately creating an information asymmetry to exploit, where none naturally exists. I really dislike these sales strategies. I mean I really, really dislike them. How can we discourage them in the market? Is 'no sale' all we have to employ against these tactics?

I don't get the feeling you can fix this through voting with your wallet. Markets don't seem to solve these kinds of issues, on the contrary, this seems to be a negative side-effect of their core nature, that all decisions come down to profit maximization. Maybe exerting our collective power for the public good through democracy? Some kind of new commerce regulation that would disallow bundling in general? I wonder,…

Where is the consumer harm in giving a discount for buying more? Are people really complaining that Office 365 with 6TB of storage costs the same as DropBox by itself?

But actually, Ben references his prior article about the benefits of bundling

https://stratechery.com/2017/the-great-unbundling/

Re: 2020 Bundles

#62

Post by scarface74 »

macklemoreshair wrote: post #52

I emailed Tim Cook a few years ago as a shareholder and told him to get serious about gaming and content. Haha i highly highly doubt he ever saw it. These gaming franchises are really the only thing bringing people to these platforms, and the one Achilles heel of the apple ecosystem.. even if apple developed its own franchises, just doing something to elevate gaming on the platform beyond a few indie games would be a…

People have been saying that gaming will doom Apple since PC gaming really became a thing in the early 90s with Wolfenstein and Doom. The entire PC industry is minuscule compared to the phone industry. The PC game industry is even smaller.

The best selling consoles of each generation usually don’t sell more in their entirety than Apple sell’s iPhones in two or three quarters.

Re: 2020 Bundles

#63

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

owlninja wrote: post #28
DenseComet wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Day 1 releases is one of the main draws of Game Pass. The Game Pass marketing site [1] has an entire section labeled "Play Day One" that says "Be among the first to play the latest titles from Xbox Game Studios and ID@Xbox, available to Xbox Game Pass members the same day as their global release." [1] https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass

One down side my son discovered recently is when he went to play red dead redemption 2, which he only recently started, and it had been pulled. It was a little frustrating. Otherwise game pass has been a pretty good value.

Generally, large publishers (like Rockstar) use GamePass/PS Now as a trial more than anything else.

By which I mean, this was the plan (as long as you have now bought the game).

Re: 2020 Bundles

#64

Post by ChrisLTD »

iad wrote: post #59
robotresearcher wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are deliberately creating an information asymmetry to exploit, where none naturally exists. I really dislike these sales strategies. I mean I really, really dislike them. How can we discourage them in the market? Is 'no sale' all we have to employ against these tactics?

I don't get the feeling you can fix this through voting with your wallet. Markets don't seem to solve these kinds of issues, on the contrary, this seems to be a negative side-effect of their core nature, that all decisions come down to profit maximization. Maybe exerting our collective power for the public good through democracy? Some kind of new commerce regulation that would disallow bundling in general? I wonder,…

The best hope is that when the bundler inevitably takes their eyes off quality and features of the individual products and a new entrant can eat their lunch.

Re: 2020 Bundles

#65

Post by mxuribe »

scarface74 wrote: post #44
dgudkov wrote: post #24

One of the most successful examples of bundling is Microsoft's enterprise plans. For instance, the top E5 plan includes so much enterprise software for so low price that it creates the perception of free software. MS Office? Free. Power BI? Free. Etc. Tableau, which I believe is a more sophisticated data visualization application is getting squeezed out from enterprise accounts. Why? Because Power BI is "free". Bundl…

Heck even Office 365 for personal use is amazing. It’s the same price as DropBox and you get up to 6TB (1TB per person but you can combine it) of storage for the same price plus everything else for up to six people.

I dislike this fact so much! You're correct of course, and this is the only reason I pay for a personal/family plan. I have no issues using LibreOffice myself (and anyone with whom i corresppond has no clue that I'm not using MS Office); but my partner and offspring have needs. My partner simply prefers office 365, and my offspring uses the school's web version for most work, so it is mostly out of convenience (and sometimes has to submit homework specific via MS Office)... Also honestly, the sheer amount of online storage PLUS the inclusion of the office 365 apps vs , say, dropbox is too compelling a deal to pass up.

As a side note, i dislike how schools tend to push students to learn Office (e.g. Word) sp specifically...I feel as though generations of children are being taught only how to drive a Ford Escort car, but will be confused the day that they have to use, say a Honda Civic, or heaven forbid a non-automatic automobile. As a tangent to this, while the following has never come up when I've interviewed job applicants for my teams...but if all things were roughly equal with candidates, and the only difference between candidates is that one only knows how to use Windows and Office, and the other one knows how to use Windows, and Mac, and Linux (or at least LibreOffice or other office suites, or some combination thereof)...I'll be picking the person who was able to use/learn more than just Windows/Office!

Re: 2020 Bundles

#66

Post by scarface74 »

mxuribe wrote: post #65
scarface74 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heck even Office 365 for personal use is amazing. It’s the same price as DropBox and you get up to 6TB (1TB per person but you can combine it) of storage for the same price plus everything else for up to six people.

I dislike this fact so much! You're correct of course, and this is the only reason I pay for a personal/family plan. I have no issues using LibreOffice myself (and anyone with whom i corresppond has no clue that I'm not using MS Office); but my partner and offspring have needs. My partner simply prefers office 365, and my offspring uses the school's web version for most work, so it is mostly out of convenience (and s…

Office has been the standard since at least 95. I don’t see anything replacing it in the next decade. Google attempted and is doing a pretty good job in education, but overall, it’s still not getting buy in from corporate America.

Re: 2020 Bundles

#67

Post by kjs3 »

scarface74 wrote: post #61
iad wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get the feeling you can fix this through voting with your wallet. Markets don't seem to solve these kinds of issues, on the contrary, this seems to be a negative side-effect of their core nature, that all decisions come down to profit maximization. Maybe exerting our collective power for the public good through democracy? Some kind of new commerce regulation that would disallow bundling in general? I wonder,…

Where is the consumer harm in giving a discount for buying more? Are people really complaining that Office 365 with 6TB of storage costs the same as DropBox by itself? But actually, Ben references his prior article about the benefits of bundling https://stratechery.com/2017/the-great-unbundling/

If Dropbox is a substantially better product (real or perceived), yes, the users complain bitterly (been there, done that).

If Microsoft is simply using bundling as an advantage of market share and undercutting the price of a competitor to drive them out of the market, then the consumer is harmed by the reduction of competition. Once the competitor is gone, what do you think is going to happen to the price and/or competition of that bundle? This isn't new.

edit: autocomplete mishap

Re: 2020 Bundles

#68

Post by javajosh »

Swizec wrote: post #39
javajosh wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crucial to what? To making content "better", meaning more potent, more addictive, more alluring than real life? I'd argue that broadcast TV was an okay middle ground, because if you were addicted you were a couch potato. Now, we are all couch potatoes but without the couch, and without the social opprobrium, or even the opposite!, the world is a generally worse place. I mean, I love 3blue1brown, but is he worth the s…

I mean, Plato did always complain that writing makes people stupid and kids these days are ruining society because they can’t speak well or remember anything. And I think books were ruining kids these days in the 1600’s In 1800’s it was populist flashy newspapers with clickbait headlines 1900’s was radio 1950’s was TV Now it’s social media There’s always something. People who want to escape their lives will find a wa…

You're right. But I don't think it means what you think it means. Consider the problem of gluttony, which has always been a human problem, but which has grown far worse with the advent of industrialized food processing. The feedback loop is very similar, in fact, to the entertainment/information feedback loop that began with the invention of writing. Plato wasn't wrong in kind, only in degree.

Re: 2020 Bundles

#69

Post by mxuribe »

scarface74 wrote: post #66
mxuribe wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike this fact so much! You're correct of course, and this is the only reason I pay for a personal/family plan. I have no issues using LibreOffice myself (and anyone with whom i corresppond has no clue that I'm not using MS Office); but my partner and offspring have needs. My partner simply prefers office 365, and my offspring uses the school's web version for most work, so it is mostly out of convenience (and s…

Office has been the standard since at least 95. I don’t see anything replacing it in the next decade. Google attempted and is doing a pretty good job in education, but overall, it’s still not getting buy in from corporate America.

Here again I think you're correct. :-(

Re: 2020 Bundles

#70

Post by zwayhowder »

ksec wrote: post #60
zwayhowder wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An actual conversation with my son a few years ago: Son: Dad you said you've never lied to me... Me: I don't believe I have. Son: You told me you loved Looney Tunes when you were my age, but you also told me that YouTube didn't exist when you were my age. So how could you have loved Looney Tunes when you were my age?

Tell me this is not true......

All true. I should add he is on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum, but still I remember my shock when I found out that my mum had to watch TV in black and white...
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