Originally Posted by andydd

IMHO, ITA is an unparalleled monopoly and basically no other tool on the planet offers the advanved functionality offered by ITA.

ITA was a top notch product, until Google bought it and then treated it as a second cousin. Of course Google's main interest is in QPX and commercial customers.

Why does Google offers it for free for general public?
For the same reasons that ITA (before it was bought by Google)was offering for free to general public. I am guessing that they test features, performance loads on the system and also monitor what system can deliver or not. May be eventually introduce more features to its commercial product.

In any case, I am thankful for such a powerful and free service, with unparalleled fucntionality. I hope Google continues to operate it and may be even enhance the features in it. Nothing wrong to wish for more 😊