I am not sure that this is fair to LispWorks. I think that I initially paid $3000 for a license and the yearly maintenance fee is about $500. Their support is amazingly good and CAPI is good for UI development.
Still, this is just out of range for most non-professionals. Several times I have considered to buy a LispWorks license for personal usage, but couldn't quite justify the costs.
I am pretty sure they might even sell more professional licenses if they had a wider userbase of enthusiast users.
For anyone curious, a hobbyist license for LispWorks is $500 for a 32-bit version that works on a single operating system, then $250 every year after that. If you actually want to release software other people can use, then it's $1000 and $500 every year after that. If you want to sell software other people can use, double that. Want the ability to use a database? Double it again! Oh, and if you want to release anything but 32-bit software? Double that, too.
All of this is per-seat, too.
It's really "Our company and or university gives us enough money to blow on software that we don't have to look at the prices"-oriented pricing.
LispWorks is amazing software from a development standpoint (though SBCL is significantly faster if you're actually using what you write), but it's also one of the best examples of predatory proprietary software.
> one of the best examples of predatory proprietary software.
Your conclusion is completely wrong. From what I see, LispWorks is making just barely the minimum to make their operation work. I wouldn't classify this as predatory. They're just trying to make enough money to survive on an environment where very few people are willing to pay for software. From what I see, most people using Lisp are hobbyists, and they already use open source products. To survive, LispWorks had to search for companies that wanted/need to pay for a supported version of Lisp.
Now, Microsoft using proprietary software to lock customers, that is predatory.
I don't think the license prices for professionals are too high, but I think there should be affordable license options for non-commercial uses. This could not only generate additional direct revenue but also might increase the number of professional users from enthusiasts who turn professional.
I am pretty sure they don't. I was interested in LispWorks since the late 90ies. I downloaded and used a bit the free edition, but that was too limited even for hobby usage. The personal edition was a bit cheaper then, I almost bought it. I would assume, if they had offered something in between, I would have noticed.
I am pretty sure they might even sell more professional licenses if they had a wider userbase of enthusiast users.