The High Cost of Free

Imagine a future where your devices are not really yours but belong to the corporations that you licensed them from. A future where choice means deciding which multi‐billion dollar publicly‐traded corporation you want to surrender your private data to. A future where the most successful product being sold is you. That future is nearer than you think.

And yet we can still build a different future.

In this talk, Aral will show you how ‘free’ can come with a very high price tag and how design-led open source is our only hope for building an alternative, open future. A future where you own your own devices and data. A future where you are not the product being sold.

A future where you are in control.

For the audio recording, see https://soundcloud.com/mkgn/mkgn03-aral-balkan

For videos of my talks on UX, see http://aralbalkan.com

Transcript

1. The high cost of free.
2. <1>
3. Free
4. @aral
5. Schnail Mail beta
7. Free mail forever. beta
14. Web 2.0 beta I blame
15. The business secrets of FREE!!! web apps.
16. 1. Get loads of users & capital 2. ??? 3. Profit! This is where you get screwed.
17. Free is a lie.
18. “If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.” http://thelink.is/youaretheproduct – Andrew Lewis
19. http://thelink.is/silkonfire Amazon will capture and control every Web transaction performed by Fire users.” Every page they see, every link they follow, every click they make, every ad they see is going to be intermediated by one of the largest server farms on the planet. “
20. Opera does not store any users’ private information. Opera generates statistics of the usage of Opera Mini, but these are aggregated numbers and no information can be linked to a single user.
27. @replies
28. http://thelink.is/atreply
29. #hashtags
30. http://thelink.is/hashtag
31. Twitter API
32. https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/public_timeline.json
39. “A perfect app, joyful, fun” ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒ App Store Reviews “Absolutely adorable” ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒ “Makes Twitter fun again!” ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒ “I fell in love with Feathers the moment I used it.” ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒ ˒
40. http://thelink.is/twitterapps 0 250000 500000 750000 1000000 2010 2011 Number of 3rd-party Twitter apps Source: Wikipedia
41. April 9, 2010 Twitter buys Tweetie May 23, 2010 Twitter buys Tweetdeck
42. March 11, 2011 Ryan Sarver to Developers: “Don’t make client apps” http://thelink.is/twitterfuckyou1
43. March 11, 2011 Ryan Sarver to Developers: “Don’t make client apps” http://thelink.is/twitterfuckyou1
44. June 29, 2012 Michael Sippey to Developers: “Delivering a consistent Twitter experience” http://thelink.is/twitterfuckyou2
45. “Who would have thought 7 yrs ago they would have turned on the developer community like they have.” BBC R&D – Ian Forrester https://twitter.com/cubicgarden/ statuses/242671718869643265
47. </1>
48. <2>
49. Paid
50. ‘An audacious proposal’ http://daltoncaldwell.com/an-audacious-proposal July 13, 2012
51. ADN (app.net)
52. "A framework for real-time social media interactions based on open standards with an ad- free, subscription-based business model, which aims to distinguish itself from the field by respecting 3rd-party developers as equals and not commoditizing its users." What is App.net? http://thelink.is/adnfaq
53. http://thelink.is/daltoninterview
55. 1 month $500,000 (~10,000 backers) Goal
56. 1 month-38 hours $500,000 (~10,000 backers) Reality
57. 1 month $803,000 (~12,000 backers) Reality
58. $0 $803,000 Days 29½ days 1½ days Source: app.net Goal!
59. (Our love affair with) Web 2.0 is dead.
60. (Good riddance)
64. http://thelink.is/adnapps
66. = = McDonald’sification.
69. Is your identity, privacy, and experience worth $5/month?
70. Is your identity, privacy, and experience worth $3/month?
71. Is your identity, privacy, and experience worth £1.86/month?
74. </2>
75. <3>
76. Open software
78. Diaspora (n) the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland. — Merriam-Webster Online
89. </3>
90. <4>
91. Open hardware
94. Mozilla Firefox OS OEM Customisations Operator Customisations
97. The too many cooks spoil the broth anti-pattern.
98. Hardware and software are inseparable.
101. The weakest part of the user experience will be the bit that’s not under your control.
102. Fragmentation
103. Android fragmentation http://thelink.is/androidfragmentation (3997 distinct devices via OpenSignalMaps)
104. Android fragmentation http://thelink.is/androidfragmentation (3997 distinct devices via OpenSignalMaps)
105. Android fragmentation http://thelink.is/androidfragmentation (3997 distinct devices via OpenSignalMaps)
106. Android fragmentation http://thelink.is/androidfragmentation (3997 distinct devices via OpenSignalMaps)
107. Android fragmentation http://thelink.is/androidfragmentation (vs. iOS via OpenSignalMaps)
108. The business plan of Firefox OS is everything that is wrong with Android magnified by an order of magnitude.
109. </4>
110. <5>
111. User experience
112. Design the whole experience.
117. Common sense is a myth.
120. “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
122. Great design is a symptom of a design-led organisational structure & development process.
123. Design thinking must trickle down.
124. CEO Designer Developer “We need to focus on user experience.” Wrong:
125. CEO Designer Developer “We need to focus on user experience.” Right:
126. as told by Mike Evangelist to Fast Company magazine. iDVD
127. Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum Lorem Ipsum dolerum bullum faecesum isntum reallyum lorem ipsum dolerus bullum faecesum
129. Burn
130. Burn iDVD
131. Design is not democratic.
132. Great design is about saying “no” way more than “yes”.
133. (Even when it’s painful.)
134. (Especially when it’s painful.)
135. •Compromised on security. •Thought outside the screen. •Considered context and ergonomics.
137. Focus on your user’s needs, not your own needs.
138. Great design is your business plan.
139. Process matters.
140. Design Dev
141. Design Dev leads informs
142. Design Dev Test Test
143. Vision Design Test Dev Test Filter Filter
144. </5>
145. <6>
146. A true alternative
147. To recap…
148. 1. Mainstream consumer
150. 2. Niche consumer
152. 3. Feature-led open source
154. What we are missing is a fourth alternative with mainstream consumer appeal that happens to be open.
155. A revolution in open source culture.
156. Open source and a great user experience do not have to be mutually exclusive.
157. We must bring design thinking to open source.
158. Design-led open source.
159. xPhone
160. xPhone •Beautiful user experience out of the box. •Protected by trademarks. •Happens to be open.
161. A revolution in open source culture.
162. We must bring design thinking to open source.
163. Design-led open source.
164. </6>
165. Thank you!
167. Credits http://www.flickr.com/photos/pazca/6174956610 Paz.ca http://www.flickr.com/photos/timdobson/3556485764 Tim Dobson