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SourceForge profile10 clicks…
Posted by tier777 on 2009-08-25
In the best case scenario it takes me at least ten clicks, 5 of which are redundant, and quite a bit of lucky guessing, to get from the “immediate purchase” link in the Delphi 2010 press release to a page where I see even so much as a price tag… and still left wondering whether this is even the best offer… isn’t that a bit… erm, how do I put this… ridiculous?
- Click “immediate purchase”
- Click “Europe”
- In the “Germany” section, click “Find an International Distribution Partner”
- In the “By country” section, drop down the selection list
- scroll down
- select “Germany” (again! – see 3.)
- Click “Submit”
- Select one out of 32 arbitrary vendors from the Partner Directory (and be sure to click the link in the right hand column as otherwise you will have to click once more to actually get to the vendor’s page), many of which do not even appear to have an online shop at all as far as I can tell… Most do not even mention Delphi or RAD Studio on the front page.
- If you took a lucky guess in the previous step the vendor will have a direct link to the Delphi product page on its front page. If so, click it. Otherwise take however many clicks it takes you on that vendor’s page to select Delphi (again! – see 1.) from the product catalog.
- Click through to the page with the pricing information only to find out that, as usual, there is a whopping 43% premium for European customers on the Pro upgrade ESD!
So much for “immediate purchase”…
In the words of Donna Noble: You’ve got to be kidding me!
That said, Delphi 2010 does still look like a worthwhile point upgrade from a technical POV… My sincerest kudos to the R&D team!
here’s my calculation, in case you were wondering:
- Delphi Pro UPG ESD in US online shop: 399 USD ~ 279 EUR (as of the time of this writing)
- Delphi Pro UPG ESD in EU online shop: ~399 EUR excl. VAT
- 120 EUR difference! (~43% of 279 EUR)
bl.OGware 
Ken Knopfli said
When I click on “Germany” (top right dropdown), nothing happens.
I have the latest Firefox and JavaScript is activated.
But they do indeed make it as difficult as possible to buy, I agree.
My local vendor only sells me a “license”, but there is no way I can download 1.7GB with my connection, and I don’t know if, should I buy a media kit (ISO on DVD), whether I can register by e-mail, and whether all the necessary .NET runtimes are included. No info on the Embry website that I can see…
Loïs Bégué said
The page you’re starting with is important.
http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/39831 => almost the same content but easier to deal with 😉
As for german customers/potentials:
1) “buy now” button on the right side
2) “D-A-CH” in the country combo + another “buy now” button
3) select your prod category
4) select the prod version at the bottom of the page.
That’s it.
Though I can feel with you and Donna 🙂
Jolyon Smith said
A little better in NZ…. just 4 clicks, only one of which is a little confusing.
i.e. having clicked an “immediate purchase” link in a press release relating to Delphi 2010, after three clicks (1-Immediate Purchase, 2-Asia/Pacific, 3-Buy Online) I am then required to indicated which product I am interested in.
My concern with the NZ store (DigitalRiver, gawd bless em) is that prices are offered in USD, despite being branded the NZ store.
The good news is that the price is exactly the same … $399 USD. The bad news is that the price *isn’t* actually the same because 12.5% GST has to be added on top of that, so I’m *still* better off buying from the US (download).
Alan Fletcher said
What can I say… I pretty much have experienced the same “buy now” process with several vendors. Here is my money, I’m willing to give it to you. However, you are not willing to make it easy for me to give it to you. That is except for amazon 1-click buy.