免费是产品经理的必修课，也是互联网商业模式的潜规则。见过那么多免费的产品设计，看到下面这个免费的产品，我还是惊呆了，中国人真是太强大了。故事是这样的：

Being free of charge is a compulsory course for a product manager and is also an unspoken rule of Internet business model. Though having seen so many free product designs, I have been shocked when knowing the free product below. Chinese are really quite great! The story goes like this.

我们在一个叫 Yanbu 的地方工作，对岸是埃及，后面是荒山和沙漠，坐飞机回北京要飞小 7000 公里。

We are working in a place called Yanbu, 7000 km by plane away from Beijing, with Egypt on the other side and barren hills and desert behind.

这个地方的穆斯林很多，虽然说伊斯兰教在教义上对小偷有着极为严厉的惩罚，而沙特这个国家更是让教义的地位高于法律，但是还是抵挡不住那些“黑”下来的印巴兄弟的念想。这不，在我们驻地旁边的几家韩国和日本公司就叫这帮兄弟偷惨了，高帅富三星公司的笔记本都买了三波了，三星一琢磨，这丢的钱都能雇保安了都，那就雇一个保安!好了，保安两班倒，24 小时围着 Villa 巡逻，配了个现代 SUV，顶了个警用灯，用 30 不到的时速把 SUV 当马骑慢慢围着 Villa 转悠。不知道这保安是不是和小贼一伙儿的，反正自从开始巡逻了，这里也就消停了，真是西斯空寂啊。

There are a lot of Muslims here. Though the punishment on the thieves put by the Islam doctrine is very severe, especially in Saudi Arabia where the doctrine is superior to the law in status, the blackhearted Indians and Pakistanis still cannot contain their evil intentions to steal. Just as expected, several Korean and Japanese companies near where we are stationed suffer serious loss by theft. The wealthy Samsung company has bought notebooks three times. But considering the amount of lost money is enough to hire a public security, Samsung hires one. The public security works on two shifts and patrols around the Villa for 24 hours. Equipped with a Hyundai SUV bearing a police warning light, he slowly drives the car at less 30km/h around the Villa as if riding a horse. I don’t know whether the security is a part of the group of thieves, after all, it operates peacefully here since patrol is implemented. How scary and amazing it is if you think it about carefully!

悲剧的是，我们租的 Villa，和那些高帅富公司的驻地隔了一栋房子半条路。虽说我们这儿小心的紧从来没被偷过，但是在之前也有几次入室未遂事件出现，连车玻璃都被砸过，简直就是大战前夜，处处都立着 flag。本以为能蹭着人家保安用用，没想到我们 Villa 门口人家巡逻车很少光顾。很正常嘛，没交保护费，能一天路过两次就不错了就。看着人家窝里歌舞升平，自家这儿危机重重，很是不爽啊!于是领导们开了个会，讨论我们是不是也要雇一个保安来，或者至少和高帅富 share 下保安的钱，也就是交个保护费求罩。讨论的结果是……

Unfortunately, the Villa we rent is a building and half a road away from those rich companies. Though we have never been stolen due to our high vigilance, several attempted burglary events still occur, and even the car glass has been smashed. It is simply like the eve of a great war, with flags everywhere. We thought we could benefit from the security, but the patrol car rarely visited our Villa. Of course, it is quite normal because we haven’t paid protection fees. It is really lucky for us if the patrol car passes our Villa twice a day. Others are enjoying peace and ease, while we are concerned about our own crises. So our leaders have a meeting to discuss if there is a need to hire a security, or at least share protection fees paid to the security with those wealthy companies to have a finger in the pie. Finally, the conclusion of discussion is that…

我们在窗口装了个没密码的 wifi。
We install a wifi without password at the window.

开始的几天那个小保安估计没注意，我们主动出击，下班回来以后在门口拿着 pad 玩儿游戏。没过一周，小保安就发现了这个“秘密”，这下可好，那辆现代 SUV 算是在我们门口扎上根儿了。上下班点的时候他还能围着既定路线转悠转悠，当然我们的 Villa 也被纳入了巡逻范围，一但过了点儿，这辆车就蹭到我们 Villa 门口，趴窝休息玩儿手机。到了晚上，车里暗淡的灯光下是一副恐怖狰狞的笑脸，背对着我们的大门，犹如门神一般。

In the first few days, the security has not noticed it. So we take the initiative, holding a pad to play games in the doorway after coming back from work. Sure enough, less than one week, the security discovers the secret. That’s great. The Hyundai SUV often parks near our Villa. During work time, he can cruise around the established route and of course, our Villa is included in the patrolling areas, but once beyond work time, he parks the car in front of our Villa door, playing his cellphone to have a rest. In the evening, we can see his smiling face under the dim light in the car, which looks a little terrible. His car, back to our door, appears a door-god.

这就是免费的力量。它让一个用户变成了一个产品，心甘情愿的为你的利益来做事，还觉得占了便宜一样，小心翼翼的维护者你。

This is the power of being free of charge. It transforms a user to a product. The user is willing to work for your benefit and carefully stands on your side because he/she feels it’s an advantage.

From: The Cyzone
Translated by Ashley, CCJK Technologies Co.,Ltd.

In case of any mistakes, queries or advice, please send emails to [email protected]. Many thanks!

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