A commercial after a cooking show advertised a recipes website and mentioned that access to all their recipes was "absolutely free." This struck me as an odd thing to say and caused me some confusion and surprise. Imagine if you'd ask to use someone's phone. They hand it to you and say, "it's free you know."
The commercial implies that "absolutely free" is an exceptional feature for a website. Something you'd normally pay for, but this is obviously false and sounds unsophisticated to savvy Internet users.
Expectations have changed. These advertisers live in a world where free recipes are enough to trigger action. But to anyone with access to Google, free recipes are a dime a dozen. Who cares?
When resources were expensive, in short supply, and much more valuable, free stuff was great. But in 2007, free doesn't have the same sparkle it used to. Very few things are so rare that they have significant value on their own. Oil, gas, food, minerals, art, and their related products, maybe. Most everything else is valuable for what it allows you to do, not in itself.
To prove my point consider what you would do if someone offered you an unlimited free supply of the following: brooms computers diesel fuel kitchen plates
Brooms and kitchen plates are great tools, but if someone was giving them away you'd likely only take one if you really needed it, didn't have any, or had a close friend who could use it. Otherwise it's as good as trash to you.
Computers are interesting because they are difficult enough to build that they have moderate value on their own. But after two or three of them, you really don't need any more (unless you're Google). An individual, even one who works in technology, is not going to take advantage of more anyway. They also take up space, which is scarce and relatively expensive.
Diesel fuel, however, is almost guaranteed to profit every single time. It's seemingly very rare and becoming more so. This may or may not be true, but in this case perception is more important. If someone is giving away free diesel fuel to you, in unlimited quantities, if you didn't own a diesel car you'd definitely consider buying one. Most people would take the offer every single time.
Information can be both of these things, but usually it's more like brooms than diesel fuel. This is the shift. Remember phonebooks? They're a pain in the ass, but before search engines you had no other option. Information was obscure, unavailable, and more valuable. Today, we're up to our ears in it. You could once barely find the address of that restaurant you heard about. Now, not only can you find the address, but also a half dozen amateur opinions of their food, location, and service.
The idea of "free" has changed. Prior to the 20th century, things weren't often given away for free. There usually wasn't enough of anything and when there was it alleviated other deficiencies. Today, life is busy, fast, and very complicated. Most of us have too much stuff already and if we're going to get more it needs to do something to radically simplify our lives.
The 20th century was the sweet spot. A balance between shortage and excess that made "free" the ultimate selling point. "Buy one magic bullet, get a free recipe guide!" These old fashion pitches still work on some people, which leads me to the question: what century are you living in?