The flipside is that companies, even ones as massively profitable as Google, should not offer free services. Why isn't search meant? What about GMail? Millions

The flipside is that companies, even ones as massively profitable as Google, should not offer free services. Why isn't search meant? What about GMail? Millions and millions of people benefit from a simple, free e-mail account with world-class spam protection. Is this also 'simple'? You advice to all these people is that they should pay up or leave? Or should they just live with the risk that sometimes things change? Here's the thing: Even paid-for services can end up being a nuisance that you want to divest.