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software development in the 1980s

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  software development in the 1980s RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-07 06:49 +0000

#2667 — software development in the 1980s

http://thecodist.com/article/what_writing_and_selling_software_was
_like_in_the_80_39_s


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We finally shipped it at Macworld SF in January 1987.

Now what does that mean? Today shipping is nothing, push a few
 buttons and it's uploaded somewhere. In those days shipping meant
 floppy disk duplicators, printers for manuals, boxes, and actual
 shipping. Who did you ship to? Distributors and mail order
 houses. You rarely sold to end users. Distributors took cases of
 boxes, putting a short description into a paper catalog they gave
 to retailers. If they sold any they sent you a check 90-180 days
 later. Anything they didn't sell came back 6 months later. Mail
 order usually paid quicker. Distributors would pay you around 30%
 of the retail price; the mail order people were a little better.
 If you wanted a retailer to stock your app you were expected to
 advertise; no one did anything free for you other than put you in
 a catalog. This made making money a pain in the ass.
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