Nostr Web Client

Your point about how users have no idea how much sending and receiving data instantaneously actually costs is well taken.

A similar issue abounds in the food markets. Everyone wants locally-grown, organic, non-GMO, no-pesticides, etc. food, but many balk at the cost. The milk from the local dairy farm is going to cost far more than the milk in the supermarket, because that supermarket milk is subsidized. Buying milk at the farmer's market is the first encounter many people have with how much that milk actually costs to produce and bring to market.

It's a difficult, but necessary, mental adjustment we'll have to make if we want to transition to a more human future.

I expect costs will go down over time for freedom tech—and for high-quality food—as economies of scale kick in, but that can only happen if we accept that there will be an adjustment.

MichaelJ 1y ago

Likewise, I appreciate your admonition to developers to explain up front that their software isn't free of cost. No one likes paying for something that they've already had for free.

Perhaps the answer is for developers to be very transparent about their finances when it comes to development. How many man-hours are going into the product? How much are server hosting fees? DNS fees?

Lay all the cards on the table, and explain how pricing will be set to make those costs worthwhile. I think many people will accept that gladly.

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Laeserin 1y ago

That would also allow for more competition based upon price.

Why do people in lower-cost countries need to use the stripped-down "free" version of a California or New England app, when they could get a premium Turkish, Thailand, or Nigerian clone for a pittance?

Laeserin 1y ago

So long as the American and European apps are subsidized, developers in other countries have an uphill battle.

And, no, the answer is not "give them subsidies, too". The answer is more free market.

The Beave 1y ago

That is always the correct, long term answer.

The Beave 1y ago

Yes. That's what I'd like to see more of in practice. More relationship building, more transparency, and more trust.

I was probably one of the oddball that realized very quickly when using nostr for the first time that it was actually expensive. I asked and was told to not worry about it. So I didn't. But now I see more grumbling and, well, it's just whining, from certain directions. It's barely been 6 months since I started using nostr. In those six months, so much has happened, but not a whole lot has been done in an open discussion on how we the early and few, want to influence and build the nostr of the future in a sustainable, respectful manner. I can't code, but I sure can see some of the roadblocks ahead and wanted to bring my concerns out to have them kicked around by #nostriches at large.