I recently came across Seth Godin’s blog from October 9th, “Everything Costs,” and it reminded me about an ongoing message we have with prospects and clients on what “free” actually means.
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch” ~Dr. Milton Friedman
What’s Really Free
In business, I have never seen a truly “free” situation, except when it comes to opinions. Even then, we’re subject to the author’s personal views – not openly vetted.
Everything else we receive has a cost from someone – either right then or somewhere down the road.
No Free Software Either
In our universe of software solutions, this is equally true with the loosely used term “free.”
Organizations are making decisions that have a large number of components that have a long life span. More importantly, the result of those decisions has costs, impacts, and benefits that need to be measured in the aggregate.
Even if you don’t pay for a specific feature or software license as a line item, there are still costs to consider (both immediate and long-term) as you’re weighing those decisions.
Here are a couple of posts that go a little deeper on this:
The Actual Cost of FREE Software
4 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Solutions
So, when faced with an opportunity for something “free,” always take the time to investigate what that “free” really means and what the true cost will be for you!
