Some business advice: competiting with free...

jch_212b05a497

I've been hearing rumors about how some sites don't like free offerings because it somehow competes and takes attention away from their own for-sale products and takes

Here's an interesting article from Tech Dirt. Although it talks about software and operating systems, the same can be said for digital products: "The idea that giving away some software for free is somehow anti-competitive is just laughable. "

Some of the comments are even more interesting, such as how Coke competes with free tap water, yet still makes millions from bottled water.

Khory

Based on what I have heard over the years the "issue" with free products has nothing to do with competition with paid for products but rather where people go to pick up the freebie. From what I understand the issue is more about location, as in where are the free items located, than that they are free. If free products were never associated with other stores or were all hosted "locally" I doubt if any store/brokerage in this industry would have had any issues free items. Further indicative of that is the fact that most brokerages and stores provide freebies in some way or other.

SickleYield

JHoagland said:

Some of the comments are even more interesting, such as how Coke competes with free tap water, yet still makes millions from bottled water.

Coke both tastes better than water to most people and contains an addictive substance, caffeine (two, depending on how you view sodium). If tap water contained heroin, nobody would drink Coke.

Analogously - if 5 users start offering legit freebies that are on the quality level of my professional products and represent basically the same items, my sales will drop. This is a different effect than with piracy, because every product I've ever done has been pirated, and that doesn't notably hurt sales because those people would never choose to pay (whereas the legit freebie user sometimes will).

The reason I have a job is because of the difficulty level and time investment of doing what I do. Most people capable of it will not choose to do it for free (any more than you'll see a lot of automobiles being built in garages and given away).

On the other hand, the makers of Linux are handing out free Sherman tanks - but tanks are hard to drive and your fuzzy dice may not fit their rearview mirror, so a lot of people will just buy cars instead.

Actually there's a really good essay around somewhere comparing OS's like that. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Silverhurst

I think the comment about Coke competing with free water had to do with Coke's bottled water brand, not Coca-Cola itself.