blakeb.org

People justifiably have strong opinions on the “everything’s free” model that google, facebook, linkedin (mostly), and most of the biggest up-and-comers in the new web espouse.  The conversation reached mass proportions a while ago when it made the cover of Wired, but I found a couple more interesting perspectives this week, and they tie in well together:

• The economics of creativity - This post comes from James Currier, founder of Ooga Labs, the company behind the Medpedia project, which looks awesome.  He tells of how his great-great-grandfather married into royalty for his musical abilities, while today it’s tough for an incredibly gifted pianist to make ends meet.
• If someone can do it for free, it will inevitably be free - a discussion at Hacker News (of YCombinator) with (yep, you guessed it) some more good insights from Paul Graham.  [Click the link at the top of that discussion if you'd like to read the blog post the discussion references.]

[ I wrote this two weeks ago, so that discussion above at YC is a little stale.  Didn't post it right away for some reason. ]