Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

Post by eslaught » Wed, Nov 11, 2020, 11:56 PM UTC

dontfiremepls wrote: post #420

pgt wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a fallacy. VC subsidies benefit consumers until they run out of money or raise prices. As long as the market remains free, there will be new entrants. The problem is regulation that keeps competitors out. In some cases Big Co. lobbies for this regulation, but often it is government that kills competition by attempting to tax said Big Co., or adds expensive compliance.

We want to build a new car. A fancy electric car. We raise money from investors, build plant, hire engineers, designers and workers, establish a supply chain and a distribution chain. How should we fairly price the product? A. $0 for the next 10 years. We've got really rich investors. B. $X0,000, in line with the fair market price for a new vehicle. The role of capital money is to cover capital expenses (duh), especi…

Post by andromeduck » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 12:00 AM UTC

dontfiremepls wrote: post #407

nybble41 wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The honest approach would be to either grandfather existing customers at the promised price point ($0)… This is exactly what they're doing. According to the announcement, photos uploaded in "high quality" (the previous free/unmetered tier) before June 1, 2021 will remain exempt from the storage quota. Only new photos uploaded after June 1, 2021 count against the quota. So not only are all the existing photos and vi…

We are going to lawyer this, aren't we? The service was promised for free, not per photo storage. The expectation is that the service will continue to be free. From what you're saying, (most of) the future use of the service, which consists of uploading and storing new photos, will be charged. Velvet gloves dumping.

Post by loco5niner » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 12:06 AM UTC

akerl_ wrote: post #428

WalterBright wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 20 year old self would have agreed with you. But you'll have to trust me when I say that as you get older, your perception of time changes drastically. > What is a definition of “thing that needs attending to” that can sustain a 5-10 year delay? Unopened mail, things I need to organize in case of a tax audit, broken things I was going to fix, things that simply need to be put away, things I can't decide whether to…

I feel like there’s interesting personal opinion in your comments in this thread, but it’s losing potency because you’re surrounding it in this aura of being older and wiser than anyone else in the thread. Things like “But you'll have to trust me when I say that as you get older, your perception of time changes drastically” just sound condescending.

Post by refurb » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 12:12 AM UTC

sgrinich wrote: post #192

advisedwang wrote: post #55

Sad as I am to see "unlimited" go away, this is probably the best way to do it: * Grandfathering existing photos means I don't have to worry about going back and deleting objects or getting an sudden bump in cost. * 15 GB is pretty generous... iCloud includes 5GB for free. * $2/month isn't a huge jump to the next level of storage.

Heads up on the term 'grandfathering' and the racial overtones of what this means: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/21/239081586...

Post by drstewart » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 12:13 AM UTC

dontfiremepls wrote: post #376

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #178

Surprised to see the level of anger here about this. This is not the usual "Google kills product", it's the type of thing that HN loves to say they would be happy to pay for ("Just give me something that does A B C and doesn't show me ads and I would be happy to pay for it!!!", well I guess until you are actually asked to pay for it). Also, as a general rule, people should welcome big cos moving away from the "free s…

Because it's anti-competitive dumping. The dirty secret of SV is that it's an enormous dumping scheme: burn billions of dollars of money to offer 'free' or goods and services, gain a dominant position in the market by driving the honestly priced competition into the ground, then jack up the prices and fleece the customers. Uber is the poster boy of this strategy, but it's not the only one. The honest approach would b…