Posted 02/26/09 at 01:35:11 PM by David Murphy

It almost seems like common sense, but 37signals' Jason Fried had some specific words for those in attendance at this year's Future of Web Apps conference in Miami, Florida: the future is not free.

Continuing on, his point is that companies need to turn away from the business model of pump-and-dumping free applications to a gleeful audience.  Open-source and free software might be an excellent means for attracting attention and eyeballs to a product, but now is not the time to pack alternate revenue strategies around these concepts.  Advertising and other extraneous revenue add-ons are a distraction, argues Fried.  It's time to shift back to a meat-and-potatoes business model, and that involves selling a product that contains enough quality to make an audience want to pay for it, even given the current economic difficulties.

That said, there's still room for free in some capacity--read on to find out where Fried thinks free applications can exist!

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