On the other hand, whilst the advertising models of the internet may have enabled the long tail on the internet, can Free really be the future? How many other industries out there operate and innovate on the basis of giving away their stuff?

37 Signals seem to think that free is not the future (as picked up by CNET). Actually, more than that, there seems to be a tone of exasperation that there is almost an expectation that stuff is given away. I don’t like a lot of stuff that the 37 Signals gang bang on about but when it comes to their business I think this stance is reasoned and reasonable.

I also like their wider perspective on their business – sell your by-products. I seem to remember being told – when I joined Philips some years ago – that they were one of the largest manufacturers of toilet seats which is because of some by-product of the PCB or Semiconductor fabrication process or some such.

Now this might have been nonsense thrown into the induction to see if we were all listening – at least, there’s no mention of it on the Philips Wikipedia entry -  but I like the story…