Minimum viable product, maximum revenue extraction.
If you don't like the product, don't buy it or use it.
Or did you think the evolution of subscriptions and microtransactions was to benefit you, the customer?
Oddly enough, yes. Successful businesses are motivated by maximizing their profit. But they succeed at this only if people actually choose to buy their products because they benefit. The fact that the business is primarily motivated by its own profits is not a problem, because in a free market, the only
That is a point so many people fail to grasp. In a voluntary exchange overall wealth is increased. People exchange something they want less for something they want more. A purchase is not an even exchange of wealth.
I don't think many people actually fail to grasp the basic tenets of 18th-century economics, it's just that it's so obviously a massive oversimplification that maybe people don't quite believe that it's generally true in practice. You do say "voluntary" exchange, but it's not clear how "voluntary" many real-world purchases are. An example is vendor lock-in, where an exchange that was optional in the beginning is structured through technological and legal barriers such that re-purchases are not viably opti
Just because you regret a decision doesn't mean that at the time it wasn't voluntary. Lock in is not force. If you buy something that requires a certain expendable item to function you know you are dependent on it being available. I'd like to be able to buy parts for my 20 year old lawn mower but the manufacturer refuses to support it anymore.
Food, lodging, and medicine are certainly voluntary. You can. Jose to be homeless or live in the wilderness and live off the land. It just so happens that voluntary ex
Just to piggy back on the point of the AC above in that the praxis often doesn't follow the theory. A good example is "selling" labor. Yes, I "voluntarily" sell my labor, but resources, politics, and capital are set up in such a way that the "seller" of the labor, i.e. the employee, often gains less value, or wealth, than the person buying the labor, i.e. the employer. Sometimes it can get so bad that the wage isn't enough for people to actually live.
Of course, this is all voluntary.
All employers pay less than what the employee produces otherwise you would be out of business. What the employee gets is an assurance they are getting paid at the end of the pay period regardless of sales, they get all of the capital (building, equipment, etc). The owners carry the majority of the risk since it's their capital at stake.
I bet the human brain is a kludge.
-- Marvin Minsky
That's all that consumer-oriented businesses do (Score:4, Insightful)
Minimum viable product, maximum revenue extraction.
Or did you think the evolution of subscriptions and microtransactions was to benefit you, the customer?
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't like the product, don't buy it or use it.
Oddly enough, yes. Successful businesses are motivated by maximizing their profit. But they succeed at this only if people actually choose to buy their products because they benefit. The fact that the business is primarily motivated by its own profits is not a problem, because in a free market, the only
Re: (Score:3)
That is a point so many people fail to grasp. In a voluntary exchange overall wealth is increased. People exchange something they want less for something they want more. A purchase is not an even exchange of wealth.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't think many people actually fail to grasp the basic tenets of 18th-century economics, it's just that it's so obviously a massive oversimplification that maybe people don't quite believe that it's generally true in practice. You do say "voluntary" exchange, but it's not clear how "voluntary" many real-world purchases are. An example is vendor lock-in, where an exchange that was optional in the beginning is structured through technological and legal barriers such that re-purchases are not viably opti
Re: (Score:2)
Just because you regret a decision doesn't mean that at the time it wasn't voluntary. Lock in is not force. If you buy something that requires a certain expendable item to function you know you are dependent on it being available. I'd like to be able to buy parts for my 20 year old lawn mower but the manufacturer refuses to support it anymore.
Food, lodging, and medicine are certainly voluntary. You can. Jose to be homeless or live in the wilderness and live off the land. It just so happens that voluntary ex
Re:That's all that consumer-oriented businesses do (Score:2)
Of course, this is all voluntary.
Re: (Score:2)
All employers pay less than what the employee produces otherwise you would be out of business. What the employee gets is an assurance they are getting paid at the end of the pay period regardless of sales, they get all of the capital (building, equipment, etc). The owners carry the majority of the risk since it's their capital at stake.