What do you mean it's free?

I had dinner last night with an old friend from the software business and once again had one of those conversations where we try to come to grips with a new Internet economic model. In 1995 I was telling my software friends to drop everything and start publishing web sites, but what is the business model they asked? Why should they give content away on public web pages when they could publish with AOL or Compuserve? In 1999 I was telling them to read The Cathedral and the Bazaar and try to wrap their heads around free software. But how can we give away software and still make money they cried? Last night I explained what I knew about microcontent, and said that in their rush for customers the major content holders and search engines would provide unlimited APIs and RSS feeds for all of their content.

The next wave of freely available intellectual property will once again distort the Internet economy, but that won't prevent it from happening. I don't think that there is some inevitable progression to all IP being free. Each set of changes took place for different reasons and in different times, but it is clear that massive change can occur before there is an economic justification. The Internet doesn't care if anyone makes money or loses money, the Internet serves the crowd.

The "Berlin Wall" of this next burst of data freedom will be when Google unlocks the limits on its search engine API. I say to you Brin and Page, tear down that wall!