The reason not as many paid services are acquired is because they don't get enough traction to entice a buyer.
Don't Be A Free User
111–120 of 177 posts
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#112I think geeks have severely irrational expectations as to what they are "owed" by someone just because that someone has created something which they used or enjoyed.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#113Like a service? Make them charge you or show you ads. If they won't do it, clone them and do it yourself. Soon you'll be the only game in town!
"We're just like service x, but we charge you money!"
There is no way this business model isn't a good idea.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#114I think geeks have severely irrational expectations as to what they are "owed" by someone just because that someone has created something which they used or enjoyed.
If you don't think this is a major problem with web services, you must have either not been around long, or don't use many of them.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#115This article brings up a good point: if you just found some super-cool free web application that you love? Odds are the only thing you're doing when you use it and recommend it to your friends is creating a nice resume for some large company to do a "talent acquisition" Large companies love this -- they find a couple of guys who are able to identify and engage audiences and then they kill their product and stick them…
Amy Hoy is a big proponent of bootstrapping. Her 30x500 class seems to rock (according to the sample materials she has out there), and she has some choice words on the subject: http://unicornfree.com/2011/fuck-glory-startups-are-one-long...
Amy Hoy is a kick-ass writer.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#116I think geeks have severely irrational expectations as to what they are "owed" by someone just because that someone has created something which they used or enjoyed.
If you don't think this is a major problem with web services, you must have either not been around long, or don't use many of them.
"We can observe that many online services close" does not imply "People who make online services have a moral obligation not to close."
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I think iOS software is a better example. There's no reason they can't be hosted in a Safari page, and they're rich while still being sandboxed.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#118This 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…
I don't presume that all free services disappear, nor that all paid services succeed. That said I'm very hesitant to make myself or my business reliant on any service with a business model I don't understand.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you don't think this is a major problem with web services, you must have either not been around long, or don't use many of them.
"We can observe that many online services close" does not imply "People who make online services have a moral obligation not to close."
It's not a moral obligation. It's that there are structural reasons why most web services have a short lifespan.
That's a problem because it makes it hard to rely on any new service, and that's eroding user trust. At least among people I talk to, there's a lot more skepticism about new stuff than there was a few years ago.
Re: Don't Be A Free User
#120Can I still use this news.ycombinator site for free or should I stop until I can be charged for its usage?