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That's a side effect of the way we've educated the market to expect everything to be "free." That leaves the only option available being indirect monetization t

• inetknght 2y ago
  Once upon a time, it was illegal to discount something to gain market share and then charge extra once you've bullied out your competition. Technically it's still illegal, but good luck finding enforcement. We're seeing the "free" version of that.
  • api 2y ago
    This is called dumping and yes it was and maybe still is illegal with things like commodities and manufactured goods. It was never enforced with software or services. If it had the entire standard VC startup playbook would be different. It’s also never been enforced internationally. China has arguably been subsidizing its industries and effectively dumping cheap manufactured goods for years to become the workshop of the world, and it works.
• xnx 2y ago
  True. I hope the pendulum can swing back the other way if services push too hard.
• keybored 2y ago
  It was funny when the corporatists here blamed consumers for using free (or “free” or whatever) services, falling into the FB trap etc. As if that mattered at all? As if FB and its ilk wouldn’t use the Free strategy every time in order to grow humoungous or fail? Of course they would bet their money on network effects over getting money in the short term—there’s no point in a boutique social network. Those hypothetical consumers who wanted to pay upfront for a 2K user social network (patently irrational but okay) would have remained unserviced. There never was a choice.