s/w sales down

USA Today reports that software sales have been plummeting for some time, though they are careful to note that this is a retail storefront phenomenon. "On the software side, the messy numbers may suggest more about the state of retail than about the programs, maintains Jeffrey Tarter, editor of the Softletter industry newsletter. "If you go to a store with a particular product in mind, you almost never find it," he says. "Buying software online is about the only serious option if you know what you want."" What's more, virus protection software sales are up, but educational s/w sales are wayyyy down. The NPD-oid states that educational s/w doesn't lend itself to a constant stream of upgrades, and is frequently just used as a hand-me-down. Knowing what a large portion of the market young gamers play, and how computer-savvy they can be, it's hard to agree. It's more likely that educational s/w development simply isn't benefiting from the budget and marketing effort that is put behind entertainment s/w, and new types of educational s/w are being insufficiently researched.