3 ms·

Even if you're the customer, 99.9% of the time, you're also the product.

• wpietri 7y ago
  Not in the sense which that is meant. The foundation of commerce is long-term, positive-sum relationships between people. The people at my corner grocery are looking out for the needs of me and my neighbors; we look out for them in return. That relationship is fundamentally different than the one between cow and meatpacker.
  • lern_too_spel 7y ago
    Yes, you are the product in the sense that this is meant. The people at my grocery store track my purchases using my loyalty card, use that data to influence their ads, and sell that data to others. Jetbrains might not do this, but if they can make money from this, they would be just as incentivized to do this as GitHub.
    • wpietri 7y ago
      Good thing my grocery store doesn't have a loyalty program or track purchases then. Maybe you should use a different one? I agree the lets-exploit-the-customers behavior you're talking about is currently common, but it's far from universal. And regardless, in a value-for-money relationship one has power that just isn't there when one is purely being sold.
      • lern_too_spel 7y ago
        Your grocery store probably charges slotting fees for shelf space, making you the product. You have the same power when not paying because there are other providers whose free services you could use instead.
        • wpietri 7y ago
          My grocery store definitely does not charge slotting fees. Which is part of why I use them. They're a small, family-run market.