I totally disagree. Logmein was free from 2007 (or before) until 2014. After seven years, it’s hardly a bait-and-switch to change a business model, especially with the months and months of advanced notice that they were going to end it.
I’m not sure you understand how a bait and switch operates then.
Like many others I paid for Logmein but only used their service because I could recommend it to others to use the more limited, free service for those who only needed to use it on rare occasions, but keep it installed for when it’s needed but also having the advantage of being compatible with my paid version.
That’s what baited a lot of people into using and paying for their service.
The switch came when they dropped the free service and people who trusted that it was part of their business model were put in a lurch of having to tell all those rare users they had to ante up fees or uninstall. While also getting them to switch to another solution.
The people baited into this model now have to either stay and pay more to cover the expenses of those they collaborate with (by those that were set up as a premise of limited, but free), or go through the time and expense of changing everyone over to a new solution.
A few months to change over 7 years of people who often don’t even know how to uninstall the current app, much less change to something else on their own means that some are just going to be told to plug in their credit card and pay until there’s time to get to them. They may feel like that’s a bait and switch, so the support person, once again, may need to eat the cost and pay for it.
Freemium models aren’t supposed to work this way.
For a model that was run for 7 years, there should have been about a year or more notice for such a radical departure. If Logmein was smart they just would have limited the free accounts in such a way as to drive those who are heavy users to pay, while still allowing light usage for free. That’s how a Freemium model works, unlike a bait and switch.
Could you imagine the outrage if all free Gmail accounts went to paid only accounts right now?
In the end, it backfired on Logmein and many have switched to other solutions, but the hassle of doing so hasn’t been forgotten. Many sure as heck aren’t going to use Logmein for free storage and recommend it to others to get it integrated deep into their workflows only to find that rug swept out later. Even Dropbox isn’t dumb enough to pull that bait and switch on its user base.
