[intricatic]

I know this is a little late coming, but I just stumbled across this article and wanted to point something out.

The OP mentions that some paid modifications cost the same, or more than the stock vbulletin software does. This is to be expected; the OP referenced buying game consoles and software for them, but glossed over the concept of cars and car modifications entirely because that analogy would defeat the purpose of his rant.

When you purchase a car, often, if you enjoy modifying the vehicle, or wish to rebuild the vehicle more to your preferences, you may end up spending more than the car is valued at to accomplish your ends. Yes, you read that right. You may end up buying a new engine, new transmission, new electric system, new tires, new axles, but retain the body of the car and some of the more trivial performance enhancing systems that the car is built with. If you make such an undertaking, you don't complain that the engine, transmission, and electric system is more expensive than what you paid for the car, or that painting the car costs approximately 20% of what you paid because you insisted on having a fully custom job done that took three months to complete, because the end result is what you wanted, and you're happy to pay for that service.

In terms of aggregate supply and demand, services like that are expensive. If only one custom car shop exists, it becomes even more expensive because there is no other alternative for customization other than simply doing it yourself. If you don't have the knowledge and expertise to swap out an engine, or paint artist renderings on your vehicle without destroying something or mangling the paintjob, then you have to turn to the experts who do that kind of thing every day. Prices are set based on supply and demand. If the supply for some particular modification is high, and the demand low, then the prices will be low to reflect that, and vice versa.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, then you have to settle for very minor or trivial alterations to the vehicle, because that's realistic and comfortable within your budget. Alternatively, you can learn how to modify cars yourself and bypass the entire boondoggle.

Deal with it; that's life.