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[2006]
I take your curtness as being a bit harsh and you're suggesting that this isn't a business model that should be promoted??

Fred does acknowledge that this isn't new, and I suggest it has been around LONG before 2006.

This is Fred's favorite, it doesn't have to be yours, but he provides a good description of why he likes it.

Of course, it doesn't apply to all businesses. Note that he didn't suggest that Twitter should have used this model, though that actually may have worked quite well for them.

The purpose of my curtness was to be concise; no editorializing was intended. I just thought it was customary to include the year when an old essay is posted to give you the right initial lens for reading it and to help you know if it is the original or an update for a topic.

I actually enjoyed the article; the thoughts behind this were important for the last startup I joined and I'm thinking about how I can apply them to what I am working on now.

I think the most important bit is

'The best examples of this business model are when the customer implicitly understands why the paid service has to cost money. More storage costs for photos or virtual storage are good examples.'

If your customers are paying for their 'usage', but it don't understand how it is actually a cost to you, they can feel ripped off.

I'm surprised he didn't include Angry Birds in the list.

He didn't include Angry Birds since it didn't come out until 2009 (see why I added [2006] :))