'Free' Web Is Going Strong

WSJ 12/21/04 Despite Earlier Predictions, 'Free' Web Is Going Strong
In 2004, the no-charge Web gained steam.

For decades, the Kelley Blue Book has been indispensable to car dealers, insurance adjusters and others looking to assign a fair value to used cars. Traditionally, the 350-page guide has been printed twice a year, but in 1995 Kelley began releasing the data online for free. Now, the bulk of the guide's readers access it online at kbb.com, where the company charges auto insurance companies and others for advertising space.

Tech site News.com ran a nine-part 2001 series, "Death of the Free Web." Salon.com managing editor Scott Rosenberg, in explaining the online magazine's decision to start charging for some content that same year, wrote in New Architect, "The Web's great free-for-all is coming to a sudden, sharp end." The Wall Street Journal ran two special reports in early 2002 casting doubt on the business plans of ad-supported Web sites, with one lead article headlined "No More Free Lunch" and another stating, "The Web as store is a hit. The Web as billboard is a flop."

http://news.com.com/Death+of+the+free+Web/2009-1023_3-258012.html
http://www.newarchitectmag.com/archives/2001/12/rosenberg/
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018650941891114320,00.html?mod=article-outset-box

"If the product is strong, consumers have shown they will pay for it and be satisfied," says Todd Larsen, president of consumer electronic publishing for Dow Jones & Co. He cites the success of the company's Wall Street Journal Online, which has 701,000 paid subscribers and is profitable.