I know a lot of us use ad-blockers and the like so we don’t see ads often anymore. But we can get some insight as to how much certain “services” make by showing ads to the average customer when they have paid ad-free subscriptions available. YouTube, for example. Maybe streaming services.
I’m curious how much most things would cost in this case, especially since so many “services” tend to have maintenance and upkeep costs.
How much would Facebook cost to use if it were ad-free? Snapchat? Windows? (Which is extra gross for having all of an up-front cost, ads embedded, AI included, and pushes for paid subscriptions of its own complementary products…)
Linux is subsidized by a consortium of major tech companies supporting a common code base as it is cheaper than relying on one vendor.
Signal is run by a non-profit group which is funded by various grants.
Mastodon is a combination of above, the code being subsidized by a consortium of developers and individual servers funded by various means.
To just say “it is free” ignores the economics of why they are free.