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That's true, and I generally dislike them, thus I run an ad blocker and some limits on JS. However I have a bit of a broader view on the topic. For one instance

by Arqu 8y ago

That's true, and I generally dislike them, thus I run an ad blocker and some limits on JS. However I have a bit of a broader view on the topic. For one instance, we wouldn't have many of the things we have without the economic backbone of the internet - ads. Google Maps - No, E Mail services - No and many more as they are just to drive user engagement to serve more ads or to lock you into the rest of their ecosystems hence Android and iOS and their integrations with the services. However I don't mind at all some higher quality marketing like technical blogs with some real value + a plug for their service on how it solves the problem, and similar sponsored content. There is almost always to sides to both stories.

pacala 8y ago
Email predates Google. https://www.openstreetmap.org/ https://www.openstreetmap.org/ does fine without ads. The ad-based business model makes it harder to develop competing essential information tools that are also economically viable.
- Arqu 8y ago
  Email predates google, however I don't thing the services would be anything alike without the bigger players. Initialy email was just a communication tool, however it quickly evolved to be sold as a feature on various hosting provides or was "thrown in" a more general package just to be feature par in attempt to bring in more people to use the service. This is not really directly related to online ads, however just shows that it's comercialized one way or another. Open street map is a great example, along with wikipedia and numerous open source projects which are either backed by some foundations or collect donations and membership fees. The broader scope here is that while this is a better approach for the world, as long as there is the possibility to earn a buck on some service, there will be a comercial version of it. Guess capitalism just works that way.

by Arqu 8y ago

pacala 8y ago

Email predates Google. https://www.openstreetmap.org/ https://www.openstreetmap.org/ does fine without ads. The ad-based business model makes it harder to develop competing essential information tools that are also economically viable.

Arqu 8y ago
Email predates google, however I don't thing the services would be anything alike without the bigger players. Initialy email was just a communication tool, however it quickly evolved to be sold as a feature on various hosting provides or was "thrown in" a more general package just to be feature par in attempt to bring in more people to use the service. This is not really directly related to online ads, however just shows that it's comercialized one way or another. Open street map is a great example, along with wikipedia and numerous open source projects which are either backed by some foundations or collect donations and membership fees. The broader scope here is that while this is a better approach for the world, as long as there is the possibility to earn a buck on some service, there will be a comercial version of it. Guess capitalism just works that way.