Money, time, or influence: the cost of software services

Even though software often gives the illusion of being free - it isn't. There are costs for the computers that run the service, the electricity, the space they occupy and even more expensive is the labor to create a service and make it available to you.

So how do we pay for these services? The traditional way has been money. You pay money and receive a service that you want it's a simple transaction. Time is also a fairly straightforward way of paying for a service. The service is provided for free, but the consumer gives a service back to the company. For instance a service can be provided where the consumer enters data and the company can sell that data.

However, many people forget that businesses can also sell their ability to influence you. Generally this is done via advertising. You receive a service from the business, but you are also forced to hear advertising messages. Either to influence you to buy something or to influence your way of thinking.

Of course, most business services are some combination of these three kinds of transactions. Scizu.com is opting heavily on the side of being a paid service. We do that to ensure we get more intentional use of our services. We feel that we want to cater to the highest quality users. We aren't interested in people who aren't willing to put in the effort to make their own lives better. And we certainly aren't interested in the bots and shills who flood today's social media services.