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Re:Google Photos hooked users with free unlimited storage. N... by Taek on Friday November 13, 2020 @08:29AM (#25081902)
Isn't this the classic pattern followed by almost all startups? Create a product that loses money and attracts users. Sustain it with VC money until you have a large number of users who are highly dependent on the product. Then switch to profitability, knowing you can do so because you've already hit critical mass and users aren't easily able to switch away.

You don't have to like it, but it is legal and it is how many of the most celebrated startups got to where they are today.

Re:Google Photos hooked users with free unlimited storage. N... by rtkwe on Friday November 13, 2020 @10:04AM (#25082956)
Google isn't a startup any more and hasn't been for a decade or more at this point. Google Photos was only launched in 2015 far out of the scrappy startup stage and into the area of using their success in other areas to crush competition in a new area by willingly losing money while starving the competition.
Re:Google Photos hooked users with free unlimited storage. N... by nomad543 on Friday November 13, 2020 @08:46AM (#25082046)
Owning slaves was also "legal" some point in time.