Bruce Baugh writes:
Hal wrote:
Consider two sites, one which acts as a proxy and cache but which charges something under a penny per page, and another which acts for free. Won't the for-pay site be able to afford a larger disk, more servers, and better net connections? It will be a superior service.
Just like commercial crypto, servers, news clients, and the like are all superior to the free versions?
Software and hardware follow different rules. Free software can often be superior because even tiny contributions by large numbers of people can all "add up", and software has no cost to its distribution in free form. A person of limited means who is into the idea and has good skills and a good concept (like Phil Z.) can get massive global distribution of their product. Hardware, however, costs actual dollars, and many people don't have those in large supply. Connectivity costs, too. Poor folks can't pay for T3s, at least not at their current prices. Perry