Don't confuse profit margins with value of labor itself. Tsk, tsk.

Labour only has value if someone is prepared to pay for it!AR

Labour only has value if someone is prepared to pay for it!AR

One can argue semantics and point-of-view all day long. At that point it's tantamount to trolling because it's not actually part of the discussion itself and only muddys the 'waters'.The point is made: there is indeed value of someone's time and effort. It is not for a customer to decide what that is because they are not the developer.

The point is made: there is indeed value of someone's time and effort. It is not for a customer to decide what that is because they are not the developer.

That is true. The developer decides the value of someone's time and effort. That value is the amount the developer pays.

Peter: well it certainly takes aerosoft 6-12 months for their products... but then again they work based on the fact that they understand the VAST MAJORITY of customers are not interested in advanced systems and just want to have fun, and "complete a flight before dinner" :) Then again Aerosoft is top dog when it comes to project management.

:( I

-----------------As for the cost of labor in China

Thanks, I

Whatever might be earned working in another job, the time spent is worth no more than someone (in this case an add-on developer) is prepared to pay for it. Most of us probably could have earned much more by working as lawyers or bankers. That doesn't mean our work is worth what we could have earned in those jobs - it's worth what we actually earned for it.

Don't try to make the concept of "opportunity cost" more complex than it is, which is simply:

The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.

I'm not speaking of a hypothetical might have been. Assume for the moment that someone resigns from a job where they were earning $100,000/year gross.Instead, for a full two years they work full time on a project that pays nothing at all during development, but only pays off in the form of a percentage of revenue as long as new sales are made.While it is certainly impossible to project what this person's ultimate gross earnings might be from this project, what CAN be stated with absolute certainty is that their "opportunity costs" are at least $200,000 gross.I say at least, because without question -if no other source of income occurs after release of their project and actual sales begin- the total "opportunity costs" will continue to inflate ad infinitum... In fact, I'll even go so far as to state that it is nearly certain that the total "opportunity costs" will never be recovered, regardless of how long sales continue.

I'm not speaking of a hypothetical might have been. Assume for the moment that someone resigns from a job where they were earning $100,000/year gross.Instead, for a full two years they work full time on a project that pays nothing at all during development, but only pays off in the form of a percentage of revenue as long as new sales are made.While it is certainly impossible to project what this person's ultimate gross earnings might be from this project, what CAN be stated with absolute certainty is that their "opportunity costs" are at least $200,000 gross.

I have never denied the existence of opportunity costs and agree with the definition you gave. What I do deny is that there is any necessary relationship between opportunity costs and the value of the project worked on. Consider further your example where someone's opportunity costs are $200,000. You appear to accept that there is no relationship when when you say the project only pays off in the form of a percentage of revenue as long as new sales are made. If the project doesn't pay off and no sales are made then its value is zero - not the opportunity costs. The individual concerned has lost $200,000 and this is a real loss but that's all it is - a loss. It isn't an asset with any value. More generally, the value of such a project depends on the revenue it generates - no revenue no value. Reverting to the case where an individual spends 4 yours creating a gauge for an add-on developer, the value of that gauge is not four's years salary (whether that's the individual's actual salary or what he could have hypothetically earned with another employer). It's value is no more than what the developer actually paid for it .

Well, my time is of value. Whether you think so or not makes no difference.I invested the time, I know what my time is worth. Your opinion can't change that.However, it's good to know your time has no value... maybe you should be a lawyer... since you think your time's valueless :(

Well, my time is of value. Whether you think so or not makes no difference.I invested the time, I know what my time is worth. Your opinion can't change that.

I said that the project is valueless if it doesn't earn revenue.But you can, of course, value your time anyway you chose. It's real value however is what others are prepared to pay for it.

However, it's good to know your time has no value... maybe you should be a lawyer... since you think your time's valueless

But it isn't. Others pay me $90/hour even though I'm retired - and I'm not a lawyer!

As for the cost of labor in China

As for labor moving to Asia... well, I live in Asia so I can speak with some authority. Unless you're dealing with Asians who speak native level, accent free English, which is basically none of them unless they were raised in the US (except for maybe some Filipinos and Indians), it's often not worth the $$ saved to hire non-Western talent. It'll cost you more money in the end using them than it would to hire a western programmer who charges a higher hourly rate, and I have the shirt to prove it.Too many cultural/language issues get in the way.

But I have worked in India where I found first-rate programmers who cost significantly less than their equivalents in the UK.

But I have worked in India where I found first-rate programmers who cost significantly less than their equivalents in the UK.

And I've made a fortune fixing their mistakes. What's your point? :(

I just did a check of a flight sim addon (an aircraft), won't name which one because that's not that important.It was downloaded via torrents over 17,000 times. That's a quantifiable value of over $800,000 at it's asking price of ~$50.Read that again... and just think about that for a minute. Do you think that the typical aircraft addon comes even close to selling 5,000 copies?No, I won't tell you how to find the download numbers... don't ask!

I just did a check of a flight sim addon (an aircraft), won't name which one because that's not that important.It was downloaded via torrents over 17,000 times. That's a quantifiable value of over $800,000 at it's asking price of ~$50.Read that again... and just think about that for a minute. Do you think that the typical aircraft addon comes even close to selling 5,000 copies?No, I won't tell you how to find the download numbers... don't ask!

How do you find the download numbers Ed? :(