Redhat still offers its programs for free.
http://fedora.redhat.com I am not exactly sure what you mean when you say it took the open source community years against battling Microsoft before it got anywhere.
The term "Open Source" is not as well known as the name "Microsoft" for various reasons. And I do not know, exactly, what criteria you are using for success.
The Open Source community as a collective project has become more and more successful over the years because their philosophy and approach work. It's more about mutual evolution and improving code through open discourse and sharing than financial success, although financial success can be a by-product.
I agree with the point about perceived value. Sometimes people will not buy a product when it is cheap. If the price is arbitrarily raised, then people perceive it as more valuable and will start to buy it.
The prices of Centerpointe's products, however, are way above this point. I think selling each level for $100 or $150 each would be more than sufficient (even though that price is still ridiculously high considering price of production, which is probably very low). That is, without having you purchase the whole set of levels in order to get a fairly decent price.
I will say that Centerpointe offers a superior product. I've played around with binaural beats at low frequencies and low carrier waves with different sound effects. I was unable to achieve the effects that their product has.
I agree with Frodo2 who, I think, said that Awakened Minds is not as good. After using and comparing, it just doesn't give you the same depth of experience.
I simply think it's a shame that they are charging way too much for their products.
[This message has been edited by babayada (edited January 31, 2005).]