In this interview, Andy Yen says about gmail et al “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. Then, in nearly the same breath, he boasts that most Proton users don’t pay, they use the basic service for free because that’s all they need.
So my question is: if there’s no such thing as a free lunch (which there isn’t), how come Proton can offer it?
This is a great demonstration of what running a company for endless profit vs running it to provide a good service while covering costs looks like (as is the fediverse, btw).
“No such thing as a free lunch” is as much part of the capitalist indoctrination as “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” and the idea that we live in a meritocracy.
Truth is, just like with actual food, there is more than enough to go around, and when you don’t commodify everything in existence as a way to gain power and control over others, sharing is pretty easily done, natural even.
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This is a great demonstration of what running a company for endless profit vs running it to provide a good service while covering costs looks like (as is the fediverse, btw).
“No such thing as a free lunch” is as much part of the capitalist indoctrination as “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” and the idea that we live in a meritocracy.
Truth is, just like with actual food, there is more than enough to go around, and when you don’t commodify everything in existence as a way to gain power and control over others, sharing is pretty easily done, natural even.