In a recession, spending by businesses in general goes down - for just about everything. So of course, companies which sell tangible hard items are hurt. Their saving grace is that hard items do wear out - cars eventually fall apart, computer power supplies die. So at some point, folks have to come back to the well and buy more.
But not so with software. There are people still running Windows Me, for crying out loud. Software doesn’t wear out - mentally, we might perceive that it does, but in reality, that is not so. So when times are tight, companies will tend to retain their current software and not upgrade - until they absolutely, positively must (for logistical/developmental reasons, for example). Office 2000 works - why upgrade? We can continue using it through 2008, 2009,….
So this would seem to spell trouble for software companies - in a recession, they should do especially poorly. And with all the free/open-source software out there, why spend $ if you don’t have to? Especially if you haven’t got it!
