What's in a name... Indeed, while the domain name of this blog might be misleading, our intentions should not. Two months ago I advocated a balanced vision between free and paying services. The question is, do you default to being free because you can't imagine or dare to sell applications, services or content on the Internet, or are you choosing to do so? Many companies are looking for the right path to profitability, and these waters still remain mostly uncharted. We all know that for one successful Ebay there are a few struggling Yahoos and a lot of failing (name of your favorite fucked dot-com here).

Of course there are all the sites run by amateurs (and I'm using the word in its most noble meaning, without implications of lack of skill). Since bandwidth and hosting cost, the most successful might struggle just to cover expenses, and that might force individuals to think of them as small businesses. As Chris Pirillo reminds us in his manifesto, even if you choose to give your time for free, you might at least get some understanding and feedback from your visitors. If time is money, one way or another, we all expect contributions back for all the work we do (ie. we like it when people take the time to write an encouraging e-mail to cheer us for the free stuff we give).