Comparing email, adsense, etc. to rakes is flawed. (Please, don't persuade me otherwise.)
I agree that the gmail economic model might not be feasible if support costs were included. But I don't know that numbers so my agreement is not important.
If 99% of users have no problem with google's services currently then, X% have no problem with google's services in the future. I'm not sure how to solve for X.
I don't necessarily disagree, but the assumption that not providing support on a free service is evil is the more flawed idea, I think.
Also, as I recently discovered, Google does have a for-pay phone support service for Gmail users, as well as all the other forms of support they offer in the form of message board, how tos, google groups, etc.
I agree that the gmail economic model might not be feasible if support costs were included. But I don't know that numbers so my agreement is not important.
If 99% of users have no problem with google's services currently then, X% have no problem with google's services in the future. I'm not sure how to solve for X.