by artmart » Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:34 am
I don't think I agree with that. I think most reputable companies DO NOT allow downloads. It's prevalent with gaming but that's because gaming privacy is rampant, therefore the gaming community tries to get some funds somehow by psychologically making you think it's easier, plus its hard to illegal pirate that software. Most companies know that there are so many things that can go wrong with downloads and they want to protect their intellectual property by making you purchase and receive something physical and then the transaction is done. I can think of at least three reasons, but there more...
1. Licensing - they allow so many copies of this CD at a time for you. You bought the hard media, they don't have to worry except that you are on your honor.
2. Many of us are not fans of Utilities, Tools, and Applications like this being downloadable. There are too many things that can go wrong with that. What if you blow up your system and didn't save the app. It's a big hassle to track of who bought what and how many copies you download. It can be annoying for them for some people who don't take care of their system like they should, then keep wanting a replacement download. If I have the hard media in my hot little hands I'll never bother them about it again and that's cost effective for many companies. It's my problem and not theirs and that keeps the price of the product down.
3. Maybe they just don't want to do that. Again, there's a huge company cost to support, maintain, track, keep secure and update these portions of websites. It's much cheaper to have some manufacturer mass produce a bunch of hard media. It costs more to have high tech personnel maintaining a download website. For example, Microsoft allows many things to be downloadable and many products are not. It's their decision how they want to provide it to us. TLDCN through UnderTow decided on licensed hard media, and updates via the web. This may change but for now... we wait.
Art Martinez
Murrieta, CA