I think this boils down to having aligned interests. Free is good when it comes to code and apps, as you say, because our interests are aligned: I want to use

I think this boils down to having aligned interests. Free is good when it comes to code and apps, as you say, because our interests are aligned: I want to use this, and you want me to use this. Free is bad when you give away a scarce resource and design systems to thwart all but the least common denominator of users: http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2009/11/flat-rate-storage-services-vs-rsyncnet.html http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2009/11/flat-rate-stora... I've been reposting this for almost four years now and I hope that this meme can stick. It's not about dumping, per se, or about sour grapes or different competition philosophies - it's about recognizing when the interests of a provider are NOT the same as your interests.