How Much Should Dolphin Cost?

What do you think the purchase price of a completely ad free Dolphin package that included every Ray module should be?  This is not a thread to discuss Dolphin's/Ray's  strong or weak points.  I'd simply like to know what the various members of this commmunity feel is a fair price for this software.  Before you say something like 'free' or '$50'. consider these points.  If something is priced so that you just buy it without a second thought, chances are pretty good that you would have paid more.  If something is priced so that you scream, "are you out of your mind!!!', then it's probably priced way to high in your opinion.  If something is priced so that you cringe just a little, and think real hard about it, but eventually give in and pay the price..... the product is probably priced just right, and that is the price I'd like you to specify.  It is a fact, that if a product is priced to high, profits will be low because very few people buy the product.  It is also true, that if a product is priced to low, profits are also low even though many more people buy the product.  Many models show that every product has an ideal price that produces maximum profit over time.  This survey, obviously is not very scientific, but it might be interesting.  For simplicity, let's just select a price range.. A, B, C... etc

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How much Should Ad Free Dolphin+Ray cost?

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A. $800 - $1,000

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B. $600 - $800

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C. $400 - $600

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D. 200 - $400

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E. Under $200

Dolphin its great, we love the script, amazing.

Yes, many bugs, need to be fixed, but if you have programmers and you are launching a big social community site dolphin is the right solution.

Dolphin cost:

C.$400-$600

Why? Because you spend more $$$ hiring programmers to fix the bugs and other stuff.

;)

It wont cost nothing if you become a contributor! Dolpin,Orca/Ray adfree is a contributor "Special"!!

What are you trying to do HOuston- convince Boonex to screw up the licensing?  They might do that anyway with out any prodding.  Dolphin should continue to be free and open source - the reason many here picked it in the first place.   I have no problem with an advertising referral link but they seem to be operating less and less in the spirit of "open source" - in fact, one industry expert I spoke with recently described the company as "closely held".  I still like Dolphin but it is very much at the end of its lifecycle, and the delays and misinformation about Dolphin 7 is causing serious concern.  Other products operate under a superior "creative commons" license.

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Rob

Well, at least one person can follow directions.   I wasn't sugesting that Dolphin/Ray smothered with advertising should not remain free.  What I asked, Is what you believe a fair price for the ad free version of the complete package should be.  Currently, it is priced at $998, and some people believe that is too much.  Let's not take any of the 'Contributor' BS into account.  I am asking what you believe a fair price would be.   It's a simple question and I'm looking for simple answers..... not a debate.

i would think its worth whatever the developer is asking for it. If they have done a valuation of the product, which i am sure they have, then they know their price point. However, they are not selling the product, they are selling the rights to you to display it adfree. You are in fact paying for an adfree version of a "FREE" program. there is much to be said about this, as when i read this what came to my mind would be this; when and if you purchased a car, did you think they were asking too much for that specific model? if so did you make that purchase anyhow, or did you move on to the next less expensive model. There are things that some of us want, that is the keyword< want, not need. None of us need to pay anything for dolphin, we want to pay for dolphin. The other part of that question, which in my opinion is loaded, is that you are paying for more than just the adfree licenses, you are paying for a lifetime of upgrades, and the initial installation, as well as support from the developers for that application.

Now lets do a constrast comparison.

Harley Davidson

Honda

both serve the same purpose, why would one person pay $25k for a Harley, while the other pays $11k for a Honda. Striictly a matter of preference, and belief in the product. Test drive did you say, well dolphin allows you to test drive their product as well, in the form of the free version. you can in fact test the product and see if it fits your particular needs.

So why you would ask the community what the product should be sold for is as about irrelevant as asking the cashier if she can drop a buck off the price of a loaf of bread. If the product was priced too high, then they would not sell. I have followed dolphin almost from its birth. I have data dating back from the very beginning of dolphin's release. I can tell you this, paid or free, Dolphin had 3 milllion more downloads in 2008 than they did in 2007.

Boonex has done a good job on this application, not a great job yet, but we are all standing by to see what they can pull off for Dolphin 7. If you personally think that Dolphin is not worth $998.00 then dont pay it. I would like to inquire as to whether you actually are even running a paid version of dolphin?

Well gonna get off here, before i ruffle some feathers.

Regards,
DosDawg

Price Point for what Dolphin provides, $1000.00 - $3,000.00, which i think they are in that range. There are similar products selling for much higher, upwards of $5k plus, and they are not open source, and you are not allowed to edit the files. strictly forbidden to edit the files.

Kudos to Richardtov, for having the ability to provide a simple answer to a simple question.

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Once again, this is a simple question and I am NOT looking for any type of debate. 

DosDawg, you seem to have a knack for completely missing the point.  Let me see if I can explain it to. I will try to keep it as simple as possible.

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Let's talk about the $11K Honda in your own example.  Let's say that exact same Honda was priced at $20K.  It is a proven fact, that when any given product is priced higher, it will sell less.   It is also a proven fact,  that if a product is priced lower it will sell more.  Now, let's say the Honda in your example sold for $8K.  At the $8K price point, the Honda would be selling like crazy, but total profits would be very low... if there were profits at all.  That same Honda selling at $20K would yield a higher profit margin per vehicle, but would likely result in less total profits because less units were being sold.  So, you see, the Honda has an ideal price point, at which a maximum total profit is realized.  I am not making this up.  Anybody that knows anything about marketing a product, knows these simple facts.

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We live in a world where perceived value cannot be ignored.  I once worked for a company that manufactured a seismic data acquisition system, that they put on the market for $250K.  It outperformed the industry standard system at the time, which was sold by Texas Instruments and sold for $5 Million.  Guess what happened..... no one in the industry believed that a product that sold for $250K could possibly be as good as the one that sold for $5 Million, and sales were pretty dismal... less than dismal actually.  Then some guy in Marketing decided that they would give the system a minor facelift, call it something else, and market it for $2 Million.  That guy was an absolute genius, because sales skyrocketed.  

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What does all that have to do with Dolphin?  It's called perceived value... every product has it.  I am simply asking members of this community what they perceive the value of Dolphin to be, in $US.

C because it rhymes with bug-free!

:)

Great question and when you consider how much professional version programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash, Director cost, $500 is a bargain as you also get source code! Before I started using Dolphin I was trying to program my own social networking app. Then I stumbled upon Dolphin. It was the most depressing and happiest day of my life. Depressing because these guys had already done it and I felt like all that effort went to waste. Happiest because to me it was like a gift from the gods! lol...All this for a couple of bucks. Ultimately, I was able to pick up the Dolphin code quickly.

So yeah...C

...sip...

Simply put Dolphin is Priceless!!

Members cannot create photo albums: priceless?

No Profile privacy settings: priceless?

Lack of some very basic forum features: priceless?

Priceless?  C'mon now.  Let's be realistic.

We think Dolphin is at the right price, we are using it mainly as a marketing tool as many of our members have paid us before they join, but will also you use the community to encourage them to buy more of our products and consider our services.
NO one is being forced to buy the full version and you can expect bugs in all browser/server based software, it 's more of a question of how quickly it gets fixed/patched...

BTW we tested ELGG before discovering Dolphin and believe the lack of support there was horrendous. We don't agree with Dolphin being at the end of it's life cycle more near the begining

 So..... if I'm only willing to pay $1000 for that aforementioned Honda because I only drive it to and from the beer joint, does that mean it is only worth that much?  If I drive the Honda 500,000 miles a year, should I cut the dealership a check for an extra $90,000?  It's the same Honda in both cases.

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I have an opinion what Dolphin should be priced at, but I deliberately did not mention it, so as not to turn this into a debate.  Personally, I have been spoiled by a number of well written, well supported commercial scripts, for which I gladly paid the asking price.  If there WAS a commercial social networking script that had everything I was looking for, I would be already using it, at any price I might add.  (I'm keeping a close eye on DZOIC Handshakes.) Dzoic Handshakes is 100% open source, and so are most the commercial scripts I use.  I can modify the commercial files in any way I choose, aside from removing branding if I haven't paid for the right to do so.

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When I asked the question, "How much should ad free Dolphin cost?", I was simply wondering what the average perceived value of this product is..... nothing more, nothing less.  Just because the script has been downloaded more than any social networking script, doesn't mean it's the best script, it just means it's the best free script.  Aside from a few shortcomings, mainly no photo album feature, no profile privacy features, a downright lousy excuse for a forum, and a very understated back end, Dolphin has much of what I am looking for.  I will see what Rev. 7 has to offer, then decide if Dolphin is a viable long term solution. 

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I understand why those of you that have invested $$$ in this script answer my question the way you do, and that's all I will say about your answers.  My question, however, remains a simple one.  Most people have purchased software, but I would bet that the vast majority of Dolphin downloaders have never purchased a commercial script.  In any case, don't take my question too seriously, and don't read anything into it.  I'm simply soliciting opinions on pricing. 

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Just because Boonex has priced ad-free Dolphin at $998, doesn't mean it is the price where Boonex will realize the highest total revenues from sales of the ad free version.  If you take just about any product on earth, and make a graph of 'Total Profit' on the Y-axis, Vs. 'Product Price' one the X-axis, you will see something interesting.  Obviously, when the product price (X-axis) is zero, total profit (Y-axis) is also zero or less than zero.  As product price increases, total profit will begin to increase.  As product price gets higher and higher, there will be a point where total profit begins to fall.  As product price continues to increase, total profit will continue to fall until it reaches zero or less than zero.  The point at where total profit peaks, is the ideal price for a product, and it is a point that is not always easy to figure out.  But...... I didn't have anything like that in mind when I asked the question.  I asked the question just out of curiosity.  If you think Boonex is worth the current asking price, then your answer should be A ($800- $1,000)  Please don't say 'Priceless'... this is not a Mastercard commercial.

A. $800 - $1,000

The way it is now I think it should cost $100. You end up spending money trying fix the problems.