If you had to pay for it, would you still use it?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 01:00PM TANSTAAFL is an acronym for the adage "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" originating in the late 1930s and later popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which discusses the problems caused by not considering the eventual outcome of an unbalanced economy. Wikipedia
Miguel Guhlin at Around the Corner "Borrowing 2.0 Same as Always" asks some interesting questions about "free" Web 2.0 tools:
Should school districts continue to allow teachers to post content online in Web 2.0 services that are "free" now but may result in cost later? And, do all teachers have the "technical flexibility" to adapt to new tools as they arise, shedding the old ones?
Time and time again, we've seen free Web 2.0 services "hook" users with their services and then seek to profit from them.
As a school district administrator, movement into free services--consider GoogleApps for Educators--must be carefully considered. What happens tomorrow when the money runs out and the lender calls in the note?
Something in me shares Miguel's concern about the over-use of free resources on the web. Is this an economic model that is sustainable and what will be lost if a free tool goes away? (Especially as we think about moving into GoogeApps for Education.)
Now I have always been a "belt and suspenders" kind of guy, so when it come to web services that are important to me, I don't mind paying for them. These include:
- Mozy for file back up
- SmugMug for photo storage/sharing
- SquareSpace for blogging
Somehow knowing that these sites want to keep me as a customer makes them more reliable and more attentive to my personal needs. And knowing that they have an economic model that might be helping the owners make their mortgage payments feels reassuried about them being in business this time next year.
I've been thinking that perhaps one way of determining the value of a tool might be to ask oneself if one had to pay for it, would one still use it? Here are my choices. Feel free to disagree. (As if anyone who reads this blog needs to be told that!)
- Facebook - no, but it's growing on me
- GoogleMail - definitely
- GoogleApps - definitely
- Delicious - definitely
- iGoogle - probably, but not very much
- Twitter - they need to pay ME to use it
- GoogleReader - definitely
- Motivator - I'd pay a little
- Online banking - definitely
- Wikispaces - yes, but probably not very much
- MapQuest - yes, but probably not very much
Should a person be recommending a tool to others that he/she wouldn't be willing to pay to use? Part of our jobs as librarians and tech specialists is to evaluate and select tools to recommend to others. This might work as a rule of thumb...
Johnson's Law of New Tools: Never recommend a program that has so little value you wouldn't pay for it.
Reader Comments (13)
Great post, Doug!! I love the image. I just left a comment over at Dan Rezac's blog....
I 2nd paying for google tools (or at least plastering their ads everywhere). Those are worth it. Let's hope we never have to, though...
I hear you Doug (and Miguel), but what does the alternative hold? Simply not using a lot of stuff because something may happen?
Could the same line of reasoning be applied to Moodle? Open Office? Versions of Linux? Should we not use these either?
There are no free lunches, and the future is uncertain. Can you predict reliably which products to keep and which to cast off based on survivability (I've tried - I'm not that good at it).
It's interesting that you started out the piece with a quote from Wikipedia, the ultimate free resource. Isn't Wikipedia a prime example of a free service without an ulterior motive? The fact is that the economics of the internet are different. There IS a free lunch, because a service provided on the web only needs a very small percentage of its users to become paying customers in order to survive, and that can be accomplished by offering optional services or products. The "Free" offering builds the user community. Once it is big enough that small percentage who want more becomes a significant revenue source. That said, I still can't figure out how Firefox makes any money.
I see what you're getting at, but feel that through aggregation, the cloud is definitely growing stronger. I have to say that Google Apps and Gmail- Google is really strong right now. I haven't heard one district say that that they were upset with it or that is wasn't a good tool. What is clear is that confidence in the cloud is growing- that is so evident now.
And leaders are beginning to emerge, which we couldn't say with confidence last year. Google, Diigo, Wikispaces, are three really strong tools, and quite honestly, they are all many schools would actually need! That list will grow over the next few years, but at least we have a starting point now.
If Google starts to charge, it will probably not be much for districts, because they eventually make money off of the communication that happens within that environment through ads and such. We're in a good place right now.
What a difference a year makes: http://drezac.blogspot.com/2009/08/remember-when-we-were-all-scared-of.html
Really enjoyed this article. It is so to the point. I too test and advise on the usefulness of technology and tools and get sick,silly and tired of getting in free only to find out you need to pay later. I loved the twitter comment :-)
Doug,
You raise some interesting questions here. While I whole heartedly agree with the intent that frames this issue I am not quite sure I agree with your conclusion that we shouldn't recommend free tools we would not otherwise pay for. Perhaps a better way to view this issue is to examine how the company offering its services gets its revenue that allows it to offer said free service. Whenever I see Google Ads on a site (such as Wikispaces, Edublogs, or Ning!) I am more comfortable recommending the free tool because I know where they are getting their money. I also know not to click on those ads. I am also always put more at ease when I see a service offer premium versions that are more robust than their free light counterparts (ex. Sliderocket, Zoho, Picnik, Splashup, etc.). The fact that there are so many different online services that are the same or similar makes migrating from one service to another almost effortless. So, in the case where a service decides to start charging is users there usually is little reason to stick around. It also prevents a lot of these services from doing that. Since it is so easy to switch services I can't honestly say that I would ever pay a dime for any of these tools but that doesn't mean that I don't find them extremely valuable. So, no I would not pay for 90% of the cloud services I use but I highly recommend many of them to teachers anyway. There may not be such a thing as a free lunch but sometimes the best things in life are free.
HI Doug,
You make a good argument and I think there are two sides to this coin. There is the adult side and the student side. As an adult I'm willing to put up with ad-supported sites and even pay for things I like such as a Pro Flickr account.
But when it comes to students do to the COPPA Law and other district restrictions getting students involved in using many of these programs is much different.
From a student use end:
* Facebook - must be over 13 and ad supported (COPPA and Ads....forget it!)
* GoogleMail - Ad Supported
* GoogleApps - Education addition ad-free and school in charge of accounts (clean sweep!)
* Delicious - ad supported
* iGoogle - ad supported and does not come with the Education Google Apps addition because as we were told by Google "Students might add something that is inappropriate it."
* Twitter - Must be 13 (COPPA)
* GoogleReader - Ad Supported (Does not come with Edu Apps Edition)
* Motivator - ?
* Online banking - Why are we still teaching kids how to write a check?
* Wikispaces - Because hosted outside the US they don't have a COPPA regulation and ad-free (Clean Sweep!)
* MapQuest - Ad supported
I think we need to look at free in two different categories. Students do to strict districts and laws really cant' use many of these sites.
There is Free....and then there is Free, Secure, Ad-Free, and COPPA compliant for students.
Two very different things. :)
I agree that there is no such thing as a free lunch. What districts are giving up with free social media tools is security. There are tools out there that can provide Social Media features in a safe secure environment. And no, they aren't free but they are affordable.
To what degree do COPPA laws apply to secondary students over the age of 13? It is obvious that this is an issue for elementary schools but is it much of an issue for secondary schools? Also, reading through the law it is pretty clear that COPPA laws can be sidestepped by simply having parents sign a waiver.
Thanks, Miguel.
I was also going to ask how many blogs one would continue to read if one had to pay, say a $12 month a year subscription to get them. (Yours would certainly be one I'd pay for.)
Doug
HI Ninja,
We are paying for Google Tools by looking at and clicking through ads. But I agree, I'm getting dependent on them for collaborative writing projects.
Doug
Hi Joel,
Moodle, Open Office and Linux are open source which differs from "free" commercial sites. I don't worry as much about open sources stuff since most of it has a zealous band of followers and supporters who do seem to need a profit motive to support and continue its development.
All the best,
Doug
Hi Roger,
The "premium" subscriber model works for me. It seems economically viable. How DOES Wikipedia stay solvent?
Doug
Hi Daniel,
I share your basic optimism about the Google services since they seem to be generating revenue. Wikispaces is now charging schools too. I hope you are correct about the general direction of the viability of the cloud. For lots of reasons, that's the direction I'd like to steer our district.
Appreciate the comment and your post,
Doug
Hi Carl,
Great point. So long as there seems to be a viable revenue generation model, I suspect the service will not just disappear.
I do wonder how you can say that you find something extremely valuable but that you wouldn't pay a dime for it. Why do we treat Internet services differently than we do other things we value and don't think twice about ponying up for? Serious question.
Doug
Hi Jeff,
Great distinction. I suspect, however, schools would not run into problems with COPPA if students just used ad supported sites and did not sponsor them. If we blocked every site with an ad, there'd be nothing left of the Internet - nor would we be able to subscribe to any newspapers of magazines or show any broadcast/cable TV programs!
All the best,
Doug
Congratulations, brilliant idea
Hello from Russia)