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Don't Be A Free User

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Re: Don't Be A Free User

#121

Post by alapshah »

nknight wrote: post #11

He keeps saying "free software", and also says "anti-free software movement". He means "free service", which is a radically different scenario from "free software" in either sense, and should be treated as such. Whether we're talking about Free software or just freeware, the user's use of a normal piece of software on their computer doesn't suddenly disappear when the developer goes away.

I was also confused at first because I usually think of the free software movement not like free beer but free like free speech.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#122

Post by neuromancer2600 »

Maciej Ceglowski provided more insights into his views about pricing and free services in this podcast interview from January this year (just ff to 24:19): http://5by5.tv/founderstalk/9

His major point is that users regard bookmarking sites as a bank where they want their bookmarks safe and secure. I find that a pretty compelling difference.

So the statement still holds that if you don't pay for a product, you are the product.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#123

Post by rradu »

Do people just like paying for things?

If a company can find a way to make money off ads and keep the product free, I'll gladly take that over paying a subscription fee.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#124

Post by zotz »

dhotson wrote: post #88
hyyypr wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ?

They killed the 'network' feature, which was the only feature I used really. I didn't really use the bookmarking. I used it as a kind of lo-fi Hacker News. I was following the bookmarks of a bunch of interesting people. It would aggregate all the bookmarks of the people I follow into one list. I found that it was a great way to find interesting stuff on a variety of topics. It was a fantastic complement to HN, so I'm…

Pinboard has the network feature. It's a great source of info, just as you say.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#125

Post by terinjokes »

_delirium wrote: post #56
morisy wrote: post #3

Seeing Pinboard's success was really helpful in getting over the sick feeling of charging a sea of free, and I think we're finally seeing a non-trivial amount of web users understand that if you're not the customer, you're the product (after they've been burned a time or twelve). Great post, and glad to see a lot of other Hacker Newser following suit.

Unfortunately, there's no way to guarantee that you're not the product without access to financials and inside thinking, even if you're paying. There are plenty of paid services where you're the product, because the people buying your usage data or access to you are paying so much more than you that your revenue is negligible. With many magazines, the only reason they even bother to charge is to prove to advertisers…

Every month I get a magazine. Every month I get a "final notice" that my subscription is up. They generally come within a few days of each other.

And yet every month, I get another issue, and another notice. I've longed chalked it up to trying to count me as a subscriber, and it must be working.

The kicker is, I've never once paid for this magazine.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#127

Post by Cass »

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…

He's making quite a bit more than that.

"Today, Pinboard is Ceglowski's fulltime job, pulling in $250,000 in revenue over the past two years. He says the site has 25,000 registered users with about 18,000 active ones each month. Ceglowski's only costs are paying for server space, and Pinboard makes money by charging customers a one-time fee of $9.50. (The fee started at $2 and goes up a penny with every 400 people who sign up.) There's also a $25 a year archiving fee for people who want personal copies of links."

(http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2...)

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#129

Post by jcr »

patio11 wrote: post #112

I 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.

I hate to seem so pessimistic, but it's more than just "geeks," instead, most people suffer from a sense of entitlement.

Re: Don't Be A Free User

#130

Post by sireat »

diamondhead wrote: post #101
jarek wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like Pinboard isn't the solution for you. However, it evidently appeals to many, myself included. I don't think I ever have my browser not open. I use something like four different computers, not including mobile devices, and appreciate the central copy without having to think about syncing it. I don't worry about setting up scripts on my local machine or updating my local plain text copy so that it can be sea…

I use delicious for 5 years and keep a local, sync copy to make it possible to program, so that I can develop my own desktop tools. I mean, a free Pinboard was a solution for me when I was looking for a good alternative of delicious, 2 years ago. But it's not free. The owner claims that he'll keep maintaining forever but he will not when he lose a considerable percent of his customers. And he'll. As I said, pinboard…

Another thing to keep in mind, that DropBox might be a big success now and have plenty of financing, but Dropbox keeping free accounts free is also not guaranteed. People who choose wrong file storage startup will lose out that much is certain.

Kind of ironic, that I am still bookmarking this on Delicious.

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