
Free: It works, it cries, it bites. Review wars over "Free" - Shakescode
http://www.readwriteweb.com/
======
CalmQuiet
Yes, there's a lot of heat over Chris Anderson's "Free: The Future of a
Radical Price". I had no idea how much - nor had bother to look at the
occasional link here, so I appreciate RWW pulling together the players:

\- The book: [http://www.amazon.com/Free-Future-Radical-Chris-
Anderson/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Free-Future-Radical-Chris-
Anderson/dp/1401322905)

\- Gladwell's NYTimes rev:
[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/06/09070...](http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/06/090706crbo_books_gladwell)

\- Mike Masnick's TechDirt take:
<http://techdirt.com/articles/20090701/0422125421.shtml>

\- Fred Wilson at AVC: [http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/07/freemium-and-
freeconomics.ht...](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/07/freemium-and-
freeconomics.html)

\- Mark Cuban at BlogMaverick: [http://blogmaverick.com/2009/07/05/the-
freemium-company-life...](http://blogmaverick.com/2009/07/05/the-freemium-
company-lifecycle-challenge/)

\- Brad Feld's thoughts: [http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/07/would-you-
want-it-if...](http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/07/would-you-want-it-if-
it-were-free.html)

I especially appreciate the tip look where I might not have bothered: Wilson's
post, who "identifies the two instances when Free actually works. The first
instance is the service or software that offers a free trial and then converts
users into paying customers. There are different flavors of this approach, the
most popular being, give the basic version for free and charge for the
advanced version."

