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| Thread ID: 98760 | 2009-04-06 02:56:00 | Hooked on free Web services? Prepare to pay | SurferJoe46 (51) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 762657 | 2009-04-06 02:56:00 | Huh? Free access to e-mail, bank accounts and networking sites -- now taken for granted -- may soon be a thing of the past. (www.latimes.com) In the latest example of fees being introduced for a service that once came with no strings attached, Eastman Kodak Co. says it'll begin charging $4.99 to $19.99 annually for its previously free online photo-storage service, Kodak Gallery. If you don't pay by May 16, the company warns, all your photos could be deleted. Are Yahoo!, Google and MSN next? (I can believe that M$N will go for the bucks - but Google promised "do no harm" or some such Hippocratic derivative). |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 762658 | 2009-04-06 04:13:00 | I doubt Google will dump it's free services - my brother-in-law works for them in Sydney (lucky bugger!) and has told me that when one of the developers has an idea, the last concern is how they would make a buck from the idea. That usually happens later - if at all. They may offer premium services as a money-spinner, but I suspect that Google will continue to hold true to the creative process, which is their core business and is what their success over the years has built on. I wouldn't put money on Yahoo not getting into charging though! |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 762659 | 2009-04-06 10:38:00 | If Yahoo charge, it will be akin to the Charge Of The Light Brigade, but with all the fun taken out. | R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 762660 | 2009-04-06 10:59:00 | There will always be a free-alternative to a paid service. | beeswax34 (63) | ||
| 762661 | 2009-04-06 12:18:00 | *Always* will .. there's always somebody, somewhere, that's got too much server space, or something along those lines. People are frugal, I am, and Im proud of it. If I can find a cheaper service that does all I need, I wont pay ;) |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 762662 | 2009-04-06 21:27:00 | I already have my Flickr account paid for me by Telecom :D | Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 762663 | 2009-04-06 21:31:00 | Which you pay for via your monthly bill to Telecom.. :) They're just trying to encourage you to use more of your cap, get you accustomed to using more, then up-sell you to the next plan... A cunning plan on Telecom's behalf - but they all do it. |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 762664 | 2009-04-06 21:38:00 | Which you pay for via your monthly bill to Telecom.. :) They're just trying to encourage you to use more of your cap, get you accustomed to using more, then up-sell you to the next plan... A cunning plan on Telecom's behalf - but they all do it. Ahhh.. but I don't have a cap :thumbs: |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 762665 | 2009-04-09 07:02:00 | Newspapers will soon be trying to start charging. Many people think that what they pay their isp is for their internet content. As we all know it is only to pay the ISP's costs and profit etc. |
Digby (677) | ||
| 762666 | 2009-04-09 08:26:00 | Big arguments gong on in the US today and this week about copyright of "NEWS" as it is "people in action and the things they do" and therefor cannot be copyrighted . The next point is that headlines are NOT copyrightable either, so the papers are dying and they are trying to recoup by upping the delivered costs . I think they have that backwards . What I don't like is "harvesting" an article and calling it ones-self's . (Pssst! I have done that a time or two, but I have forgiven myself) It (collecting, printing and profiting from "news") won't work since the internet has most of their content for free anyway - er - with the adverts, though . But we can ALWAYS block that with AB+ "Bylines" however, CAN be under the copyright act and therefor protected from electronic dissemination in general without rights assigned and assumed . This is gonna get interesting . The Boston Globe has announced it cannot compete with the internet and is shutting down if the (yesterday's) rate hike of 44% doesn't make some profit for a change . This is in a tough economy too, as you well know and what Im prophesied to you over two years ago . What happens in the US (for better or worse) affects the rest of the world . But not for long! The papers have themselves to blame for the losses though - as they themselves put their print version on the internet to download for free . |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
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