How are prices and utility decoupled?
The typical buyer is an IT purchasing agent, whose only perception of value comes from price competition in the market, which is dramatically influenced by the mass-production prices of commodities. In todays saturated computer market, computers themselves cost less than $500. Any software package costing more than $1000 would give the purchasing agent apoplexy. The poor engineer who tried to justify such a purchase would encounter formidable resistance to overcome, particularly since the purchasing agent reports to a completely different management line usually.
