I do think Selen is onto something important.
I believe people don't want or expect literally "free," but that "free" is possibly the best word to use for what they want, which isn't being articulated. But then again, I also believe we are in the process of transitioning to a new kind of currency. I don't know what it is, but I do know that we're in a global downturn at the same time that we're in a global upturn, which makes it a transition state, and what's typical about transition states isn't that the moral fiber of humanity loosens, though it always looks like that, but that what people are willing to pay isn't corresponding to what's being asked.
Kind of like when, say, an animal population that's survived on coconuts and grass gets really successful, but then no longer has as many coconuts and grass, so has to move to where there's acorns and thistles. So these early adopters, or bellwethers, or whatever you want to call them try to show the others, "Woohoo, we've got thistles! Take some, I'll share!" but they get laughed at with, "You're not offering me anything worth a durn. Show me the grass." That's what it's looking like to me right now.
As for "best," I translate that into something a bit askew. For "best," I read "the least resource intensive thing that works." As in, the most functional item for the most people, produced with least amount of cost/resources. I think we're moving towards that. People want that, almost universally. And it's a pretty natural thing to want.
Edit: The conclusion here would be that yes, it's not sustainable to give both free and best to people if you're a company that wants to survive without evolving, but that's because the current economic model is a bridge between an old, unsustainable one and a new one. The successful companies have a foot in both models and can change gears with changing values.
Can I talk about a concrete example here instead of widgets, since it's kinda historical? My example is the book market, since that was one of the first retail breakthroughs in the new model. The big A quickly placed their foot in the old model (print, traditional publishers), then the new model (the auctions - remember those? And Zshops) and now in the indie publishing market. They did it initially with discounts, because they quickly realized that print books would be devalued (paper prices had already been skyrocketing and an alternative was needed to match the potential for online distribution) as electronic books would rise. They foresaw that print would be considered extraneous to newer generations (not like us fuddy-duddies, y'know) and undercut their local competitors so drastically their business acumen was questioned. They started appropriating the retail market as a whole both for the money and because it brings their users into the new era. From many directions, they set about building infrastructure to support their products. And then...and then...
So the takehome is:
Offer something to users they traditionally had to pay substantially for that's still valuable but only temporarily so (gotta look into the future with clear glasses here.)
Offer something to users of value that will sustain its value primarily in the NEW economy for significant profit.
Yes, in the short term, this devalues anything produced for the sustenance of the old model. That hurts. But in the long term, it also eases the transition.
The FREE and BEST business model
