I am more and more discouraged lately by my realizations that free services are being lost to the greedy. I received a phone call from a number that I didn’t know today. I used to be able to go to Google and type in a phone number and automatically, if that number was a landline it would show me the owner’s name and address information. The same thing you can get in a phone book if the person is listed. If they weren’t listed you would simply see a message telling this.
Now, all you get is about 200 listings of sites trying to charge you for looking up a phone number. I don’t understand. Google provides free tools because their revenue is based around ads for related goods, sites, services etc. Now, the only search results I get are for the sites that want to charge me. They all say “Free Information”, but what you saw in the search blurb before clicking to go to the actual site was the only free information you are going to get from them.
I understand that White Pages has to make money too, but that’s why they charge ad customers some ridiculous amount of money. If they didn’t deliver a new phone book every third week, they could probably save a ton of money on printing alone. I have received 7 (seven) phone books since the beginning of the year. Why anyone would need 7 phone books is so far beyond me that i can’t even begin to imagine it.
I understand that “Free” isn’t always possible. I read an article earlier in the week about why we should pay more for apps. The basic premise is that the software developer has a lot of overhead when they develop and app, then have to maintain it, fix bugs, keep it updated for the most current OS it runs on, and so on. I agree that this is a ton of work, and being in the software development industry I can fully support that this is a ton of work. That doesn’t mean that I think people are underpaying for apps.
If I get a free app, I have no expectation of fast bug fixes, superb support, nor a response when I email about an issue. I do expect to see ads, and I do expect to have to touch the close button on those ads. Devs need to eat too after all.
I don’t mind paying for an app…particularly one that offers something that I can’t get in a free app….as long as it’s something that I need, or at the very least want really badly.
I don’t mind paying a bit more for a really superb app either. I have purchased apps for my computers, my phones, my tablets, and even for my windows machines. I’m rarely disappointed with the app, and do expect a higher level of customer support for those apps as well.
The one thing I hate…and I mean HATE…is when someone charges me for an app that promises all kinds of functionality, and initially delivers it, then just flat stops supporting it. They no longer try to improve it, no longer fix bugs, no longer maintain it, and just stop outright responding to emails, much less does their ‘Contact Us’ info actually lead anywhere.
I think the term Free is thrown around a bit too freely and we just don’t really get it anymore.
Free means that there is no cost at any point to the consumer. Very simple concept…right? Apparently not, since it has been twisted over and over until it is almost unrecognizable by most people.
I knew a woman who insisted that her cell phone deal was great because she got 500 Free minutes. I tried, in vane, to explain that it isn’t free if she had to buy the cell phone and pay for a service plan for the next two years. She responded that the phone and the plan were separate…and that they were just giving her the minutes…
I never did get her to understand that it wasn’t free. It’s like the free tank of gas when you spend over $200.00 at the adjoining grocery store. Well….it’s not FREE when I have to buy $200.00 in groceries to get it. Maybe you needed groceries anyway, and even better if you also needed gas…but that’s coincidence…not free.
My point…
I expect some compromise when it comes to free anything…it just disappoints when even with those expectations fewer and fewer things are out there for free.
