This article really hits the nail on the head, one of things I did not mention was that fact that having a non-profitable business model can effect business decisions. Let's take the simple example of opening up a restaurant. This is a simple business model for illustrative purposes. If you open the restaurant with a sustainable business model (~$5 to $10 bucks a meal in America), you get to make money and know you are helping people eat good food. Now if you open the restaurant and do not charge, you might still get people coming, but are you doing the right thing? You don't really know. Did you open the restaurant in the right place? Are you offering the right food? Do you have the right type of service? (Fast food or sit down) Are you offering the right things (coffee, donuts, ice cream, burgers ect) There is so much you need to know. One wants the restaurant to be successful, and customer feedback is very important. Maybe there is a better way to open a restaurant that uses less people (hot dog stand) and is faster. Yes, surveys can be done, questionaires can be sent out, but the results can be very different when actual money is on the line. This is one area where a pricing model can help out significantly. It can provide vital feedback. While I doubt that all the effort and work that went into creating BitShares is going to be for naught, there is a point where we really want to make sure the market really wants us and is willing to pay fees as appropriate.