4 ms·

Those data centres just build themselves, right?

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
One data center for 1B people? Yes, per person. Folks, try to understand marginal cost. Its a tiny number per person now, and plummeting.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > Folks, try to understand marginal cost. 'Marginal cost' doesn't work like you think it does. Marginal cost means the cost for adding one new user. But they aren't paying to add one new user. They're paying for all users. If each user's storage cost 1 dollar a month then yeah adding an individual new user is basically free. But if they're supporting 100 million users then it's a hundred million dollars a month. Which isn't free. If you still don't quite get it - try this thought experiment. If storage is free then could you afford to set up a storage data centre? If not, why not? It's free after all, in your mind.
  - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
    They're not charging a dollar. That's my point. They're raising their prices, while storage costs fall. Lets try not to choose the most uncharitable interpretation. That's actually in the site guidlines.
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      > Lets try not to choose the most uncharitable interpretation. I agreee! I think my argument is the most charitable. 'It costs money to store things. They're asking you to pay for it'. Seems most charitable, reasonable, and simplest explanation. Your interpretation is 'each byte costs nothing so a hundred million dollar data centre also costs nothing' which is an uncharitable interpretation of what they're doing. At the end of the day 'storing a billion photos is free' - your argument - is simply a provably false statement, as everyone in these threads keeps trying to explain to you.
      - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
        Hey you're deliberately ignoring the cost per person, and the fact that raising prices while storage costs are falling dramatically is fiscally backward. That extremely uncharitable view of 'free' is getting in the way of understanding. So its a hundred million dollar data center, paid once. At a billion people served, its 10 cents per person per lifetime. So why $10 per month? Get it now?
        chrisseaton 6y ago
        > So its a hundred million dollar data center, paid once. In your mind, who pays for the hundred million dollar data centre?
        JoeAltmaier 6y ago
        Like I just said, the folks who use it. At 10 cents per person, that would about cover it. What's the question? Anyway I've said all I have to say. Read my comments again if you want to understand. I'm out.
        chrisseaton 6y ago
        > Like I just said, the folks who use it. At 10 cents per person, that would about cover it. What's the question? You repeatedly said 'Charging for storage is becoming silly. Its [sic] essentially free.' Now you're saying you agree actually it requires hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and so people should be charged for it. > Read my comments again if you want to understand. But see how your comments contradict yourself? It should be free but people should pay for it. Which is it?

One data center for 1B people? Yes, per person. Folks, try to understand marginal cost. Its a tiny number per person now, and plummeting.

chrisseaton 6y ago
> Folks, try to understand marginal cost. 'Marginal cost' doesn't work like you think it does. Marginal cost means the cost for adding one new user. But they aren't paying to add one new user. They're paying for all users. If each user's storage cost 1 dollar a month then yeah adding an individual new user is basically free. But if they're supporting 100 million users then it's a hundred million dollars a month. Which isn't free. If you still don't quite get it - try this thought experiment. If storage is free then could you afford to set up a storage data centre? If not, why not? It's free after all, in your mind.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  They're not charging a dollar. That's my point. They're raising their prices, while storage costs fall. Lets try not to choose the most uncharitable interpretation. That's actually in the site guidlines.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > Lets try not to choose the most uncharitable interpretation. I agreee! I think my argument is the most charitable. 'It costs money to store things. They're asking you to pay for it'. Seems most charitable, reasonable, and simplest explanation. Your interpretation is 'each byte costs nothing so a hundred million dollar data centre also costs nothing' which is an uncharitable interpretation of what they're doing. At the end of the day 'storing a billion photos is free' - your argument - is simply a provably false statement, as everyone in these threads keeps trying to explain to you.
    - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
      Hey you're deliberately ignoring the cost per person, and the fact that raising prices while storage costs are falling dramatically is fiscally backward. That extremely uncharitable view of 'free' is getting in the way of understanding. So its a hundred million dollar data center, paid once. At a billion people served, its 10 cents per person per lifetime. So why $10 per month? Get it now?
      - chrisseaton 6y ago
        > So its a hundred million dollar data center, paid once. In your mind, who pays for the hundred million dollar data centre?
        JoeAltmaier 6y ago
        Like I just said, the folks who use it. At 10 cents per person, that would about cover it. What's the question? Anyway I've said all I have to say. Read my comments again if you want to understand. I'm out.
        chrisseaton 6y ago
        > Like I just said, the folks who use it. At 10 cents per person, that would about cover it. What's the question? You repeatedly said 'Charging for storage is becoming silly. Its [sic] essentially free.' Now you're saying you agree actually it requires hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and so people should be charged for it. > Read my comments again if you want to understand. But see how your comments contradict yourself? It should be free but people should pay for it. Which is it?