Maybe I’ll have to wait until next Black Friday. In terms of value to me, given my own level of usage, I’d be willing to pay the Black Friday upgrade price. I’ve been trialling PhotoLab 3 and think the improvements over PhotoLab 1 are quite good, though incremental. I didn’t know it was still possible to get hold of the old, free version of Nik. Clearly Adobe have a much more functional suite of products, though DXO have some advantages in areas such as quality, usability and learnability. But if we succumb to the various upgrades and extensions on offer with DXO we could easily spend more per annum than on Adobe fees. What I do know is that in pre-sales literature, DXO constantly emphasise that it is a one-off cost, not the sort of rental process that Adobe operate. Clearly market share is a major factor in pricing, and the two interact. I’m not up to date on the economics of software production costs and how this translates into pricing. Which leaves the question, if you don’t like the price, find an equivalent product for less - I’ve looked and tried most options - nothing comes anywhere near the functionality of PhotoLab What DxO are asking, even at full price, is peanuts. Then there’s the cost of maintaining and improving the app over the years. If I were to estimate for starting to develop such a product, I would be looking at a team of half a dozen and around two to three years to get it to its current state (I appreciate that could be a gross underestimate) That was a small iOS app - PhotoLab is considerably bigger and more complex and it is for macOS. Because I wanted to support the festival, I did it for free, but it cost me around six months of effort. I have written an iOS app for a jazz festival. One contributing factor to the impression shouldn’t cost much is the plethora of iOS software available for either nothing or next to nothing. I would also add, as a software developer, many people just don’t realise how much time, effort and money it takes to develop software. I see no reason to feel entitled - and don’t see DxO as being entitled either. So what? I see no value in upgrading from Nik 1.x, since I don’t have a 4K display and don’t need the new filters. Existing customers like me don’t see the same benefits. DxO’s pricing seems competitive (IMO) if you’re not already a customer, and they recently added PhotoLab Essentials for no additional cost. You can still get that free version if you want it. Google offered it for free because it was abandonware - they weren’t developing or supporting it. Want to pay less for Nik because you already have PhotoLab? Consider that Nik is seven tools, not one, and originally cost a lot more than it does today. I see nothing entitling anyone to more: sales are generous, competitive, and for a limited time. The actual markdowns are clearly indicated. The current sale is “up to 30% off” or “30% off” depending on where you look, and - yes - isn’t accurate. While DxO’s marketing is weak (not getting the word out to web sites and not being entirely accurate), it’s better than when PhotoLab 1 arrived. We are often the authors of our own disappointment. I’ve learned from experience that a sense of entitlement comes from a lack of perspective.
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