Google search is free! The Chrome browser is free! Facebook is free! Gmail is free! Cloud services are free! Can you stand all the freedom?
Well, it’s not freedom, it’s free stuff. Big difference.
Since the dawn of the Internet, people have enjoyed getting things “for free.” (The proper phrase is, “Getting things free,” but don’t let proper English stand in the way of good communications.)
In fact, we’ve raised an entire generation of kids who believe that everything should be free: Music, TV, video, books (if they read them), all gratis thanks to the Internet. The Internet is a bastion of free stuff, and all the software, cloud services, and webmail is free as well. We’re used to it. We’re spoiled.
Of course, all the free stuff bothers me. It’s not that I want to pay for that stuff; I’m not that silly. I mean, if someone is willing to give away information at no charge, why not take it? I’m doing it now to promote Wambooli and my books. But that begs the question, why are multi-billion dollar for-profit corporations doing it as well?
They say that when you sing up to get something free what’s really being sold is yourself. For example, when you play a free game online or get a free app — or use Facebook — your presence is what’s desired: The people selling the advertising on the site or in the app want your business. You can ignore the ads, of course, but the handful of people who don’t ignore the ads pay for everyone else.
Even here on Wambooli, I sell some books and generate revenue from the advertising that appears on many of the pages. It’s not a lot, but it’s something.
But what about the big boys? Why would Google give away so many free services?
My suspicious nature leads me to believe that something larger is at stake. Not only is it you and your information that Google wants, but eventually I think they’re going to pull out the rug and require payment for access. Given that “free” is the price now, at some point in the future you’re going to have a lot of information up there in the cloud, information you must have access to, so you will pay for it.
The charge for services won’t come over night. In fact, charges exist for services now: Want a bigger Dropbox account? Pay for it! Eventually, the cost for accessing Google Drive and Microsoft’s Skydrive will come at a premium. Because all your important stuff is up there, you will pay for it. You’ll need to.
My solution is to keep your information local. Use the free stuff, but keep your documents — and especially your backups — on your own machine. That way, when the rug gets pulled, and you have to pay for what was once free, you can easily and happily walk away.
I already keep my important stuff locally, though I do toss stuff up to various cloud services if I want to share anything.
Windows 8.1 is really pushy when it comes to account creation – if it detects an Internet connection during setup, it disables the ability to create a local account and forces you to use a Microsoft Account. Bleh. Thankfully, you can create a local account if you disconnect from the Internet.
Unrelated: I typed this comment on my phone in landscape mode. This comment typing box is bigger than the screen so it scrolls from side to side. It reminds me of the fully mechanical typewriters.
Comment by linuxlove — July 2, 2013 @ 4:19 pm
Really? Windows 8.1 requires a Microsoft account?
Sell your MSFT stock now!
Comment by admin — July 2, 2013 @ 4:28 pm
No, you can create a local account during setup if you disconnect from the Internet first. You might even be able to create a local account from the Users control panel if you were forced into a Microsoft account.
Even so, they really want you to use a Microsoft account: Any Metro app that connects to a service, be it a service of Microsoft or something like Twitter, a Metro messagebox pops up and asks you if you want to convert your account to a Microsoft account which you can dismiss, they just word things in a confusing manner so you’ll be tricked into converting. That messagebox pops up every time you install a new app that invokes the “Connecting to a service” dialogue in 8.1. It’s very annoying.
Comment by linuxlove — July 2, 2013 @ 5:32 pm
Yet I really doubt the typical user is going to understand that they need to disconnect from the Internet to set up an account. That’s going to be very frustrating.
Comment by admin — July 2, 2013 @ 9:20 pm