You feel it, don’t you? That subtle unease when you open your favorite app. The interface is a little more cluttered. The ads are a little more invasive. The features you loved are now behind a paywall. Something is wrong, and it’s only getting worse.
AI is driving the marginal cost of software to zero. That sounds like a miracle — but it’s actually a curse. When software costs nothing to produce, the only way to make money is to extract it from you.
Free software is not a gift. It’s a transaction. And you are the product.
The dream of free software has been with us since the early days of the internet. Open source, shareware, ad-supported — all promises of abundance. But as AI accelerates the collapse of production costs, that dream is turning into a nightmare. The only businesses that survive are those that lock you in, manipulate your behavior, or sell your attention.
Take Intuit. My wife is an EA, and I’ve seen firsthand how they hold users hostage. Switching costs are astronomical. They know they have you. And they will squeeze every dollar they can. That’s the model for a world where software is free — the survivors become predators.
In a world of infinite supply, the only scarcity is your attention. And that’s a war you will lose.
The options for software creators are grim. Find 1,000 true fans who will pay for a niche. Or go for scale and become an ad machine. Or worse — use loot-box mechanics, addictive loops, and big data to keep users hooked. We’ve seen this play out in mobile games, social media, and now every app.
The irony? The utopian vision of ‘free for everyone’ is accelerating the very enshittification we hate. The more software costs nothing, the more it costs us in trust, privacy, and sanity.
So next time you complain about an ad, remember: you asked for free. And you got it. The question is whether we can build a different future — one where good software is worth paying for, and where we refuse to trade our souls for a free app.
FAQ
Q: Isn't free software a good thing for society?
A: Yes, in theory. But when every software company is forced to choose between bankruptcy and exploitation, the result is a digital ecosystem that preys on users. Free is not free when it costs your attention and privacy.
Q: What should software developers do to survive?
A: Find a niche of super-fans who will pay for exceptional value. Or build a business model that doesn't rely on extraction. The days of 'build it and they will come' are over. You need a community, not a user base.
Q: Is advertising really that bad? Many apps survive on ads.
A: Advertising is a tax on attention. When it's the only model, it incentivizes the worst practices: data hoarding, dark patterns, and addictive design. The real question is: can we build a world where good software is funded by people who value it, not by advertisers who exploit it?