Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by angersock 5210 days ago
The problem with the web-based tools is that, by necessity, you end up needing to find a way to monetize your userbase. And that means ads, and selling private information, and selling trends, and doing all of these heinous things.

Giving away the tools lets the users help themselves, and frees you of the burden of having to keep the service alive and monetize users.