Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Don't Be A Free User

blog.pinboard.in

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 177 posts

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#71

Post by nknight »

DannoHung wrote: post #59
bengl3rt wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe nothing should be web apps... maybe the pipe is for content and services, and native code is for layout and interaction...

So are you willing to have native code pushed to you with no control over it? Because that's the major logistical advantage of webapps that has Enterprises trying to use them. Maybe when NaCL gets better...

Untrusted native code isn't strictly necessary. There is no need for locally-run software to be in any particular form, so long as it doesn't depend on the developer's server to function.

Java bytecode is excellent precedent for what is broadly possible. There are problems with it, but most of what's missing for the end user is a better degree of convenience and control.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#72

Post by adambyrtek »

todd3834 wrote: post #45

Based on their signup help page ( https://pinboard.in/help/fee/ ) the price is "number of users * $0.001". Now there is no telling when they started with that pricing but assuming it was from the beginning they have made around $50k. Since it was created 3 years ago that is an average of around $17k/year. I realize the archival accounts are $25/year and I have no way of knowing how many they have but assuming it doub…

As far as I remember, this multiplier is not valid anymore. When it comes to estimating the number of users, another post[1] on a Pinboard blog sheds some light on that.

[1] http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/spikes_logs_and_the_power_cl...

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#73

Post by adambyrtek »

todd3834 wrote: post #45

Based on their signup help page ( https://pinboard.in/help/fee/ ) the price is "number of users * $0.001". Now there is no telling when they started with that pricing but assuming it was from the beginning they have made around $50k. Since it was created 3 years ago that is an average of around $17k/year. I realize the archival accounts are $25/year and I have no way of knowing how many they have but assuming it doub…

As far as I remember, this multiplier is not valid anymore. When it comes to estimating the number of users, another post[1] on the Pinboard blog sheds some light on that.

[1] http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/spikes_logs_and_the_power_cl...

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#74

Post by tlots »

"You might call this the anti-free-software movement."

While I agree with his argument (and I'm a pinboard customer), I am not for mixing the term 'free software' with 'free, unmodifiable, supported, centrally hosted web service'.

To me, free software means code sharing and the ability to modify software and run it personally as I choose. The difference boils down to resources. With free software I do get the source; however, I need to provide the environment, time, and self reliance support-wise (or a decent community).

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#75

Post by wavephorm »

The users have spoken. They want free software products. Open source, piracy, and free websites, together have burned into people's heads that software is worthless regardless of the platform (windows, ios, web, server-side).

Unless this mentality changes, expect all software to continue this cycle of froth and recycling.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#76

Post by CubicleNinjas »

gkoberger wrote: post #16

This article operates under the very incorrect assumption that paid services never shut down and free services are never carried on by their purchasers. See Flickr or YouTube or PayPal or Skype or Picnik or Grand Central or Picasa or Siri or mySpace or FriendFeed or FeedBurner or even pinboard's biggest competitor Delicious for examples of the latter. As for the former, there's an unlimited number of examples (for a…

Where did it say these pay services never shut down and free services never live on? It was just highlighting a trend.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#77

Post by canbeboth »

quanticle wrote: post #24
thaumaturgy wrote: post #2

To partly rebut what maciej is saying here, I'd point out that Backblaze is a very successful not-free service which was also courting purchase offers; paying for a service is no guarantee that you'll get to rely on that service forever, which is a major failing of web-based services in general (and a frequently-mentioned point from my clients when I suggest using some web-based service or another). But I mostly agre…

I will probably start paying for his page archival service within the next month. I'm more comfortable with it not only because of his track record so far, but because I know I am his customer. If it were a free service, I'd be far more concerned about how many concessions he'd be willing to make for his real customers -- advertisers or metrics companies or who-knows. As the old saying goes, "If you're not paying, yo…

If you aren't paying and the company is trying to make money, then yes, someone else is probably paying for it. However, the implication does not go the other way. If you buy a newspaper, go to a movie, or watch cable TV, you are both a customer and a product.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#78

Post by rgrieselhuber »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #9
kellysutton wrote: post #6

As someone that runs a paid service, I can tell you it's awesome to interact with customers. There's an air of respect that you don't get from completely open products.

You haven't run into the ones that think that because they shelled out $15, you are their personal butler?

To second this line of thought, I've noticed that the customers who pay $150 are less likely to think of you as their personal butler than the ones who paid $15. It's a weird thing.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#79

Post by grabble »

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #40
gkoberger wrote: post #16

This article operates under the very incorrect assumption that paid services never shut down and free services are never carried on by their purchasers. See Flickr or YouTube or PayPal or Skype or Picnik or Grand Central or Picasa or Siri or mySpace or FriendFeed or FeedBurner or even pinboard's biggest competitor Delicious for examples of the latter. As for the former, there's an unlimited number of examples (for a…

Delicious, for all intents and purposes, WAS shut down, and a new, barely related site was put up in its place. I was a Delicious user for years, with thousands of links tagged, and I continued using it for as long as I could stand under Avos, but the features that they cut and/or broke in the transition finally made me throw up my hands, give up, and switch...first to Trunk.ly, which Avos then bought and shut down (…

Delicious still has the goods. I'd even say it's underrated now.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#80

Post by joshu »

hyyypr wrote: post #67
SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Delicious, for all intents and purposes, WAS shut down, and a new, barely related site was put up in its place. I was a Delicious user for years, with thousands of links tagged, and I continued using it for as long as I could stand under Avos, but the features that they cut and/or broke in the transition finally made me throw up my hands, give up, and switch...first to Trunk.ly, which Avos then bought and shut down (…

What exactly do you have against delicious' new interface ? I continue using it as I always did, and except for the design I barely see any difference. Maybe I'm missing some key feature here ?

I'm struggling with it.

Commas instead of spaces for tags breaks my muscle memory. It often saves my bookmarks with no tags at all because of it.

I am continually tempted to rewrite it (or, more likely, its predecessor, which did more for fewer users.)

Post reply on HN