With all the excitement about the high cost of products in Australia compared to the US, how does it really affect the creative industry here?

As designers, we all need software to create.  According to this old news story that did the rounds a while back,  Adobe doesn’t mind slugging Australian designers with hefty price-tags, “Every two years, when Adobe releases a new version of Creative Suite, the cost is around 50% or more higher across the board for the same software when sold in Australia”

But Adobe isn’t the only international software company taking advantage of our good nature (or plain ignorance) down under.  What other brands are denying us a fair shake of the sauce bottle when it comes to software?

Design Federation’s research found that Extensis (the maker of font management software Suitcase Fusion) are charging Australian customers $US131 for the “international version” versus $US100 for our Yankee counterparts.

QuarkXPress 9 happily claims $US999 from users outside of the States who must purchase the Pacific, Asia, and Africa Edition, but USA users save themselves almost $US150.00 for the Americas Edition which goes for $US849. 

It’s the same story with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 who ask us for $US629.00 and sell for $US499 to USA citizens.

So what can we do about it, folks? Well, Design Federation knows a few of you will have your sneaky suggestions around such a dilemma but our official suggestion is to refuse to suck it up and start making some noise about it. We know times are tough for The Home of the Brave but we’re not all characters from TV (horror) show The Shire over here, some of us can count… and it’s starting to add up.

Written by David Goldberg | Edited by misspigelle