from what i am reading it seems you can either be 'free' or 'not-free'. in my opinion there is nothing wrong with free, it's doing 'free' for ever that I think brings about the contention. giving stuff away for free catalyzes a conversation with the consumer that you might not have had in the first place if you had charged. This falls in line with the article discussed in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=523616.

Given these numerous interactions with your free product - build a perfect product and know that it is exactly what people are looking for. Make that 'not-free'.