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   Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 02:44:44 JST Evan Prodromou

   Thinking about ad-supported PCs. We collectively decided that many of our software services could be ad-supported, but ad-supported PC hardware kind of fizzled in the 1990s. I don't remember any projects like this for mobile phones, but I'm sure they existed.

   http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9902/10/freepc.idg/

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 02:46:55 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     I guess I'm wondering why people are OK with ads for some parts of their computing experience, and not for others.

     (And yes, fediverse foamer, I know that you personally cannot stand ads for any part of your life in any way, but if you'd like to ignore my point and tell me more about how much you hate all ads, please feel free to reply.)

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     Mark Gardner (mjgardner@social.sdf.org)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 04:19:53 JST Mark Gardner

     in reply to

     @evan Remember the HTC First with #Facebook?

     Or the #Amazon Fire phone?

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 04:19:53 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Mark Gardner

     @mjgardner There we are!

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     Hippy Steve (exador23@m.ai6yr.org)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 04:47:57 JST Hippy Steve

     in reply to

     @evan I'm not sure that "people are OK with ads" for any part of the computing experience...

     During the timeframe of ad-supported hardware, I'm not aware of any ad-supported software that was successful either. Meaning via consumer choice. The ads crept in on the website side during the 90s rush to monetize the web.

     Users didn't choose that. It was thrust upon us and kicked off the ad-block industry. Some people didn't care, or gave up, but they didn't actively choose ads.

     Things are a little different now, where people are used to ads & cell apps so numerous that folks might choose an ad-supported app instead of paying for ones you might hardly ever use.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 04:47:57 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Hippy Steve

     @exador23 yes, that is how advertising works. It attaches a message that you don't want to see to a stream of things you do want to see. Nobody wants to see ads; that's what makes them ads.

     Successful advertising is tolerable enough that you keep watching. Unsuccessful advertising ruins the whole experience for you, so you turn off content as well as ads.

     Nobody likes ads (because they're ads), but in some contexts we tolerate them -- we are "OK" with them.

   • Embed this notice
     Joseph Szymborski :qcca: (jszym@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jan-2024 07:37:57 JST Joseph Szymborski :qcca:

     in reply to

     @evan "Free-PC.com's founder, Bill Gross, says the company will spend about $600 on each PC..." $600 USD in 1999 is just over $1,000 USD today. That's a lot of capital to pay today on trickling ad dollars tomorrow.

     I wonder if ad spends were bigger then, or if we even had a good idea of what the digital ad spend market would be like.

     Anyway, I think we tolerate ads in a lot of other spaces because they are monopolies/oligopolies w/o alternatives.

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     Tim Lavoie (tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 07-Jan-2024 15:25:34 JST Tim Lavoie

     in reply to

     @evan Also, there are ads, and then there are ads defined through behavioural tracking and profiling. I might find billboards and TV ads annoying, some like them I suppose.

     I absolutely loathe anything like spy-based ads, and will sabotage them at every opportunity. (Reminder to myself, "Surveillance Capitalism" is sitting right here, in my to-read pile.)