When my business partner in the past was hesitant to use technology that locked us into a lengthy contract or created situations of vendor lock-in I thought he was being paranoid. After all, these companies were the biggest and best in the world at what they did and they were offering us all these services at a rockbottom cost, why would anyone suspect them? He was right, I was wrong. It took me five years to figure this out.
Businesses are run by people, they are not run by machines and people can change their minds. People can also be changed. Great companies started out with noble intentions but today the same people who had those intents have usually cashed their chips and moved on. Their replacements who are usually from big MBA schools have one goal and one goal only, maximise profitability at all cost. With this single minded focus, they push the boundaries and alienate their customer base but since the customer is locked in, he has little in terms of choice. The ones who do usually escape.
I’ve seen it time and again with companies. They have an IPO and now they need to generate cash. They explore new avenues to bring in revenue and they usually find a way to do exactly that. I’m not saying it is not right, as a business they are required to make profits. The more the better. But as a consumer, I want to keep my options open as much as possible, retain the control in my hands rather in the hands of a big name corporation which has sinister clauses inside of their terms and conditions that I never bothered reading.
If they can squeeze me out, they will squeeze me out. All we can do is to stay prepared for this kind of behaviour.