3 ms·

You are not wrong, but I think you are missing the point: It's a rule of thumb. Its a reminder to be aware of of probable commercialization of their personal d

• marcosdumay 10y ago
  > It's a rule of thumb. It's a very flawed rule of thumb for information products, as the MS debate clearly shows.
  • Jordrok 10y ago
    Not at all. The rule doesn't state that paying for software guarantees that you're not still the product, just that if you're not paying for it, it's significantly more likely that the difference will be made up for somewhere else.
    • EGreg 10y ago
      But in a free marketplace, the difference is usually made up by charging commissions on a volunary transaction by both sides, which both sides enter into because they believe benefits them. In this case, who is the product exactly? Both sides are equally "the product" and often would welcome their positions / profiles being indexed and matched together with a corresponding offer to facilitate a deal. The rest is details.