This morning’s Observer column.

The reception accorded to Free has been markedly different from the respectful audience for the Long Tail. The opening salvo came from Malcolm Gladwell, the New Yorker writer who is himself a virtuoso of the Big Idea, as expressed in books such as The Tipping Point and Outliers. He was particularly enraged by Anderson’s recommendation that journalists would have to get used to a world in which most content was free and more and more people worked for non-monetary rewards.

“Does he mean that the New York Times should be staffed by volunteers, like Meals on Wheels?” Gladwell asked icily…

The Gladwell piece is here, by the way.