Comments on: Free as in Virus http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/free-as-in-virus-business-model/ "Fortitudine Vincimus" - Rants and thoughts of an optimist mind Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:26:40 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Alex Barrera http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/free-as-in-virus-business-model/#comment-257 Alex Barrera Wed, 07 May 2008 14:57:47 +0000 http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/?p=73#comment-257 Mark, you are very right. That's why I think we should design payed services that become indispensable to the user. That way it's not about quality, it's about not being able to function in the same way without that product. Mark, you are very right. That’s why I think we should design payed services that become indispensable to the user. That way it’s not about quality, it’s about not being able to function in the same way without that product.

]]> By: Alex Barrera http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/free-as-in-virus-business-model/#comment-256 Alex Barrera Wed, 07 May 2008 14:56:15 +0000 http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/?p=73#comment-256 Indeed, but cheap != free. You give it for free if you make money elsewhere. Right now that elsewhere are ad revenues, but that cow doesn't has too much milk left plus it doesn't works for all users. What I rave about is that we tend to think that everything should be free when that's not the case. There are operational expenses that have to be payed for. What it's true is that some services, like ADSL or cellphone providers might charge in excess. Something I agree with you :) Indeed, but cheap != free. You give it for free if you make money elsewhere. Right now that elsewhere are ad revenues, but that cow doesn’t has too much milk left plus it doesn’t works for all users.

What I rave about is that we tend to think that everything should be free when that’s not the case. There are operational expenses that have to be payed for. What it’s true is that some services, like ADSL or cellphone providers might charge in excess. Something I agree with you :)

]]> By: Danyel Lawson http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/free-as-in-virus-business-model/#comment-255 Danyel Lawson Wed, 07 May 2008 14:44:09 +0000 http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/?p=73#comment-255 Don't get suckered into it. The pay to play mentality is obvious when you have to pay for bandwidth and hosting and phone service etc. The market is always driving a fee based economy but it doesn't have to be that way. Cheap symmetric DSL connections would be a start. In Korea they have 50 MB/s symmetric DSL for cheap. Don’t get suckered into it. The pay to play mentality is obvious when you have to pay for bandwidth and hosting and phone service etc. The market is always driving a fee based economy but it doesn’t have to be that way. Cheap symmetric DSL connections would be a start. In Korea they have 50 MB/s symmetric DSL for cheap.

]]> By: buckpost http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/free-as-in-virus-business-model/#comment-252 buckpost Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:31:09 +0000 http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/?p=73#comment-252 Alex, I hear you, brother. The big challenge is convincing people there's enough value in something that it's worth pay for. That's tough when you have a paid product competing against something that's free. If the free product is alright then getting someone to pay for more than alright is tough. For anyone trying to get people to pay for a product or service, you have to believe that in the long-run people will gravitate to quality - be it service quality, great customer service, etc. A good example is Web hosting. You can pay little or nothing but you usually get what you pay for. Mark Alex,

I hear you, brother. The big challenge is convincing people there’s enough value in something that it’s worth pay for. That’s tough when you have a paid product competing against something that’s free. If the free product is alright then getting someone to pay for more than alright is tough. For anyone trying to get people to pay for a product or service, you have to believe that in the long-run people will gravitate to quality – be it service quality, great customer service, etc. A good example is Web hosting. You can pay little or nothing but you usually get what you pay for.

Mark

]]> By: Gabriel Gonzalez http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/free-as-in-virus-business-model/#comment-246 Gabriel Gonzalez Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:08:14 +0000 http://alwaysnewmistakes.wordpress.com/?p=73#comment-246 Interesting topic and a tough one to predict! I guess most of us will no pay whenever a similar free service is around. BUT as you point at the end of your post I think non-computer-geek-ppl need to realize that not all is free on the internet before it is too late. A good start are the on demand movie services. Maybe google is planning a free movie service in exchange for some ads, who knows... Interesting topic and a tough one to predict! I guess most of us will no pay whenever a similar free service is around.

BUT as you point at the end of your post I think non-computer-geek-ppl need to realize that not all is free on the internet before it is too late. A good start are the on demand movie services.

Maybe google is planning a free movie service in exchange for some ads, who knows…

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