Believe me I genuinelly paid about £600 for Borland C++ Builder 6 Professional.
I haven’t used it much yet except going through a C++ tutorial book, but I don’t really regret it.
I bought it on the assumption that the company I work for would reimberse me when I use it to write something they needed. I supplied what they needed but not using this software. They never reimbersed me. meh. I own it now and one of these days I’m gonna get the programming bug I used to have and write some killer app.
I can’t remember the exact price - around $500 for Steinberg’s Cubase VST/32 Producer Pack which was Cubase and Wavelab. I think I bought it in 2001 or thereabouts. I still use both programs today. I’m using it on the same computer I set it up on as well. It does all I need and I don’t want to mess with it too much. The last update I recall was a P-IV optimization patch.
A couple of weeks ago I paid $350 for Adobe Audition 2.0. I use it every day, and it does everything in an audio recording program that I will ever need, flawlessly and as fast as greased lightning. So it was totally worth it.
I don’t really buy much of my own software…I was smart and got everything I needed cheap when I was at school (MS has deals with most schools for super cheap software).
We did pay something like $3k for our mail server software (IMail)…I know it’s not me personally buying it but at the time we bought it, the company couldn’t afford it so I did have to forgo some paychecks so we could have it…
I have a practice management program that I use in my veterinary practice. I have used it for a few years now, and am very pleased with it. It was more than $3000, less than $5000.
I just paid $1,500 for some kick-ass real estate tracking software, and I’ve seriously considered buying a full version of either Maya or Softimage XSI. They both have $2,000 and $6,000 versions.
$1200 the first year and $800 every year thereafter for a mid-level MSDN (Microsoft Developer) subscription. I use it in a home business, so it pays for itself, but every year I internally debate whether it provides more value than it costs…then buy it.
For myself? And not counting the price of software installed when you bought the computer?
I bought some solitaire software for $19.99, mostly because my wife insisted. Years ago, I bought some Beagle Brothers software for my Apple ][e for about that much. That’s about it.