Originally Posted by
drewguy
They would, but also with reason.
Google drew in a lot of users to gmail with "free". So those users built their workflow around this free service (recognizing what it "costs" you in data, etc.). If they'd known years ago that Google would start charging for gmail they might have made a different choice. But now, because they've got tons of emails archived/organized/given out their gmail address they're locked into gmail and it's hard (though not impossible) to switch to an alternative.
Same thing with Strava - if you've saved all your activities there you're locked into them - it's possible, but not easy, to extract your ride data and move it elsewhere. If you care about keeping those records it's not easy to move to a different service to keep track of all your riding.
So, while on the one hand I understand the need for Strava to make money, there's also a whiff of exploiting locked in users.
There are paid gmail services from Google. Google Domain, Google Drive, etc. i have a G Suite account which gives me my own web domain for my office email address, a website and cloud storage, which I gladly pay for.
In Google's situation, they're taking their free email platform, and giving you the option to buy a higher level of service. Adding services, not taking free ones away if you don't pay.
in Strava's case, they appear to now be taking away services that have been free if you don't pay. Given the expectations of most web users, especially those that have grown up on the internet with the expectation that everything is "free" that roll back is a tough sell.
If Strava now wants us to pay, they need to add something new with something that people will really value.