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$5/mo for an IRC client? That's just silly. Geek cultured called -- they want their technology back. Apparently startup culture has corrupted our industry to a
by teacup50 11y ago
$5/mo for an IRC client? That's just silly.
Geek cultured called -- they want their technology back. Apparently startup culture has corrupted our industry to a degree that people think $5/mo for a hosted IRC client is a fair exchange of value.
- swhipple 11y agoI pay shy of $5/mo for a VPS to run a BNC with my preferred config and serve a few files. If someone prefers IRCCloud or Slack's features and support, it can absolutely be worth more than the sum of bandwidth, storage, and CPU.
- greenyoda 11y agoThe market determines prices based on what people are willing to pay. Apparently the companies who are paying Slack $5/month think it's a good value, since they've chosen Slack over all the alternatives. They may even buy it for purely intangible reasons, like their employees enjoy using it and thus communicate more effectively. If you think you can offer the same services that Slack does for $1 a month, maybe you have an opportunity to start a business that successfully competes with them. You talk about a "fair exchange of value". Is it fair for Apple to charge you a 50% markup on an iPhone? Is it fair for Starbucks to charge $4 for a latte? Do you know of any for-profit business that sets its prices based on an abstract notion of fairness rather than supply and demand? If your company was fortunate enough to make a 50% profit next year, would you offer to return some of it to your customers?