Well, risky as it is to try to explain behavior I truely don't fathom, I'll throw caution to the winds. I think it is a combination of two things, both thoroughly American. The first is the idea that you can get something for nothing. A more American idea there never was. Everyone is brought up to look for a 'deal', a 'sale' and a 'great buy'. Its what makes people give mortagages without verifying income and what makes other people take mortgages without reading the fine print. Its what makes our economy go 'round. The second is the visceral American reaction to technology, better known as the gee-whiz factor. The cooler technology can be made to look (regardless of what is under the hood), the greater its market cache. That is why iPods fly off the shelves, even though my music afficionado friends tell me it is inferior to some competing products. Put both of these together, and you have a marketing knockout-punch, at least for lots of folks involved in software quality.

For my two cents, I'd rather buyers think this one through a bit more. That may sound counterintuitive from someone who makes his living by implementing with these tools - the poorer the tool fit to the target application and project, the more work (for us) to make it work, you might think. And you'd probably be right about that. But the better the fit, the better the better the overall quality of the job. We can produce better, more robust, more effective automation projects with better tools and better fits between tool and project. So...automation tool buyers...caveat emptor!