Some of the software in the list should be compared with "enterprise software sales". $335 for a ledger software isn't bad when you think it is bought by a company/business. Moreover, there was a certain amount of hand-holding, service & support implied with sales in those days.

If you want to talk of rip-offs, in early 90s, I bought a casio organizer with my hard earned $35 only to realize the connectivity cable+software to a PC costs $150+ more