Re: Redhat 4.0

[turnbull@example.com (Stephen J. Turnbull)]

>>>>> "pal" == pal  <pal@example.com> writes:

    pal> Hi All Thank everyone for the info Brought it in Akihabara
    pal> for 3800 yen why oh why Is it 49 dollars in the States and
    pal> "only" 3,800 yen here in Japan

    pal> Bit surprised on how cheap it is here

Who said Red Hat is getting any royalties on it?  That's mostly a
joke, but getting proper copyright protection for foreign materials in
Japan is not a joke.  Four years ago, the Wall Street Journal
finally---after three years---won an injunction---but not damages at
that point---against a company that was decoding its satellite feed
and selling the content with Japanese headlines.  Out of curiosity I
checked Playboy, and discovered that the monthly version acknowledges
a license from ol' HH, but---to the best of my limited Japanese
ability at that time; I checked every page and even examined the
photos for subliminal copyright acknowledgements ;-P ---I could find
no acknowledgement of a license in Weekly Playboy.  A friend (who is
not a lawyer, nor does he play one on TV) told me that probably
Japanese law does not extend the trademark protection from monthlies
to weeklies; since Playboy is not a weekly anywhere but Japan, it
doesn't have preemptive rights under international copyright law.
(They do seem to have rights on the bunny mark and the distinctive
title font.)

Since the RedHat software is freely copiable, any value in the CD-ROM
package above convenience comes from included documentation and
support.  What exactly do you get in the package?  Red Hat may not
find it worth its while to do more than charge a nominal fee for legal 
use of the trademark name if the CD-ROM does not include substantial
content that is not FTP-able.

As for $49, there are lots of discounters in the States; I know you
can often get (Walnut Creek, not a copy) Slackware from Crazy Eddie's
or Fry's (depending on the coast) for 30-40% off Walnut Creek's
price.  I dunno about Red Hat.

All that's just "devil's advocacy."  Probably it's just cheaper
because demand is lower.  Or maybe Japanese balk at paying as much for 
real software as for Super Mario Kart 64, which obviously has much
higher "kachi".

However, this pricing policy *is* interesting, and I may look into
doing some research on "reverse price gradients."  :-)

Steve

-- 
                            Stephen J. Turnbull
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences                    Yaseppochi-Gumi
University of Tsukuba                      http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tel: +81 (298) 53-5091;  Fax: 55-3849              turnbull@example.com
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