Brilliant pieces of work don't come around every day. Mike Masnick's piece modestly ;-) called The Grant Unified Theory On the Economics of Free is one of these pieces.

If you have ever wondered how to make money when so much is given away for free these days, this piece is for you. It's a bit abstract — the comments section clearly shows that it is hard to comprehend for many — but exactly on the money, IMHO.

The hard part is that it requires people to re-think what business they are in. To be workable, it must be a business that has both a free component to it, and a scarce component. For example, software (free) and support (scarce); or recorded music (free) and concerts (scarce). But not razors and blades (both scarce).