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A comment on The 'Fuck You' Pattern. Parent comment

Re:The 'Fuck You' Pattern by msravi on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @01:41AM (#27672220)
Ok, so why isn't there an option to just buy the thing at its actual cost without the subsidy and without ads? Are they unable to put a $ value on how much the ads will garner them over, say, a 3-year period?

FWIW, I have Linux Mint on all laptops at home, including the ones used by the kids and the elderly, even though I've already paid for the Windows 10 license by virtue of having purchased them default installed.

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Re:The 'Fuck You' Pattern by thomasahle on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @07:29AM (#27674381)
> Ok, so why isn't there an option to just buy the thing at its actual cost without the subsidy and without ads? Are they unable to put a $ value on how much the ads will garner them over, say, a 3-year period?

That's the classical problem with ad-free subscription models: You remove all the people with cash to spare from your advertising pool, thus decreasing its value. At that point you might as well make the product ad-free for the people not paying as well.

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