And far fewer people owned or knew how to use them.  At my last job one of the
other employees had an ad from 1990 for a 386sx, brand new the price was $9000. 
Now systems cost only $400-500 for the desktop with an OS.  Prices aren't just
set based on cost to print the media.  Software developers had to make their pay
off fewer people.

> True - the floppy disk cost $2.50 and the manual was a couple
> hundred pages.

> > I'll bet a bigger portion of that $180 went into the physical media and
> > documentation than what MS is putting out today.  With mass-produced
> > CD's costing under $1 and "documentation" that consists of a 10 page
> > booklet of how to locate the power switch and where to insert the CD for
> > further instructions, I think it's much more of an apples to oranges
> > comparison than you make it sound.

> > > > Windows bootleggers.  (BTW, who started using the infamatory term
> > > > piracy?  I'll bet it was the BSA putting a ugly-faced marketing spin on
> > > > plain old bootlegging.)
> > >
> > > We were using that term back in the 70's, which was before the BSA was
> > > formed.  This was back when the DOS for the TRS-80 cost $180.
> > > Adjusting for inflation that is about $720 today.  Makes Windows look
> > > like a pretty good deal . . .