Autodesk has deeply discounted the price of the student edition of AutoCAD 2006 in the Philipines to a mere US$16 (900 pesos). Revit, Civil3D, and Inventor will sell at the same price. Similar prices will be charged in other countries of South East Asia. (In Canada, the student edition of these products costs CDN $184.95 with a 1-yr license, $488.95 with a perpectual license.)
The dramatic price slash follows the lead of Microsoft, which had introduced lower-priced versions of its software in countries that suffer from poor currency-exchange rates. American software companies typically charge higher prices outside of the US, in some cases double or triple, on top of the local exchange rate, resulting in nearly-unaffordable software and rampant piracy.
The lower prices are meant to combat the sales of unauthorized copies, which are typically priced US$1 or $2.
Infotech reports that student editions of the software embed "students-only" watermarks in saved files to prevent them from being used commercially. No mention if the software comes with a 1-yr or perpectual license.
Are the students in the Phillipines different to the students in the UK in that they will pay 8 times the going rate for software?
Posted by: Jim Anderson | Jul 12, 2005 at 01:33 AM