I’ve been in IT a long time, worked for some of the largest software companies, backbone providers, mercenary shops and plenty of other outfits, so I’ve seen some things.
development, maintenance, updates and the like all cost money, and unless you are doing it in house with a dedicated team (if the project is large enough) or one that splits it’s time amongst different projects, it can cost A LOT of money.
where does that money come from? There are typically 3 options: 1. Users pay for the service or app. This used to be one time purchases of a license however most places have gotten greedy and gone with the subscription model. 2. From advertisers. 3. From collecting and selling user data. Honestly, 2 & 3 are fairly close in relation but 2 (usually) provides data to target individuals whereas 3 typically sells its wholesale.
“If you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.”
The point I am making is that this could be done and done well but as a community it’s up to us to decide how we want to cover those costs.
Personally I would prefer a small one time purchase compared to the other options. If the product provides real value that shouldn’t be a hard sell.
