The other side of the story is that most users don&#x27;t want to pay for anything on the internet. Not making this up - I&#x27;ve had people tell me they pay for the internet connection, so they don&#x27;t see a reason to pay for any services on top of it :( So the same person who wouldn&#x27;t think twice about dropping $5 on a cup of starbucks coffee <i>every day</i> will not pay $5 <i>per month</i> for email (without ads).<p>Not defending the shitty ad scene online. Just want to point out that most people don&#x27;t want to pay for anything online, they are at least partially responsible for this mess.