
Ask HN: Why are so many great things free? - hashtagMERKY
There seems to be an abundance of really great services that are offered free of charge, or have a free tier that fulfils my needs perfectly and offers no incentive to upgrade. Examples include Surge [0], Netlify [1], and Migadu[2], which I just discovered from the front page of HN. Why do so many services offer a really good product free of charge? Do they benefit at all, or is it about giving to the community?<p>[0] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;surge.sh&#x2F;<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.netlify.com&#x2F;<p>[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.migadu.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;index.html
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meric
You're right, air is free. Thank God.

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fforflo
If it's free, the product is you

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brudgers
That's the case sometimes. It's not the case with something like GNU.

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sharemywin
I disagree. Technically the aggregate of "you" is the product. in the case of
GNU it propagates via free labor. In aggregate people contribute to the
product providing free labor.

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brudgers
I use GNU and don't contribute to any of it's projects. The same is true of
the Linux kernel and many other pieces of software.

By and large, my non-contribution to GNU and other projects is a lack of
technical expertise. Beyond that it is mostly a function of not being embedded
in a community of contributors. However, I'll admit that some small fraction
of it is due to a lack of effort on my part.

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sharemywin
just like a bunch of people don't click on ads.

