Musk brings up possibility of charging ALL users a subscription fee
(www.theguardian.com)
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That, IMHO, is why the subscription model will fail. They want the money and still want control over who/what you see.
I don't think there are enough idiots who'll take that deal to make subs profitable. Maybe I'm wrong though. I still can't explain the appeal of the current state of Reddit.
The subscription model I think is going to be the only way forward for a while at least. And it’s not solely Social Media etc. There’s Various other services and apps online that can only afford to be free/extremely low cost. Because they were getting ESG investment bucks and Government handouts. Not because they and by extension their companies were actually profitable.
Hence the recent SNAFU with Unity. The Company has been operating in the Red. And the ESG bucks that they and many other companies were using to offset their operating costs are drying up. So they need a way to raise Capital. Hence the “brilliant” idea they had to charge Game Devs per install of their game if they used Unity in development.
What people want or prefer is going to take a backseat to what’s economically viable. And the economic environment that created the quote “Free internet” is dying.
While I’m sure there’s going to be labors of love that keep some applications and games free/low cost. Those will probably be the distinct minority.