In 2014, Google made a remarkable offer: anyone with a Google Apps for Education account in the US got unlimited storage for free. The logic was sound at the time. [...] The idea was that if you catch users when they are young, they're yours for life. The axiom had already been tested by both Apple and Microsoft, with creative types and workers in jobs with sensible shoes respectively. Google played on its own strengths as the first cloud-native platform for everyone. [...] Seven years later, Google has killed the deal. The tech giant announced the end of infinity in a blog post named, with magnificent chutzpah:, "More options for learning with Google Workspace for Education." [...] That announcement was a year ago, and gave existing users 18 months of grace, with new users denied the unlimited package from, well, now. Those with experience of academic deadlines won't be surprised that it has taken this long for lots of people to notice. [...] It has taken a while, and it's by no means universal, but the realisation that free can be very expensive is sinking in for users and suppliers alike. Sustainability is an absolute duty, in business as in everything, if you want a relationship to last. [...] In the online world, we're seeing the collapse of the hidden, unregulated market in personal data as the damage it does is exposed. Tratto da https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/14/google_free_storage_plan_ends_opinion... Giacomo