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Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

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Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#141
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft also bundled a text editor (EDLIN). It didn't impair anybody else from writing and selling editors. They also included a programming language (BASIC) for free. Didn't impair other language creators.

Nobody did word processing in edlin. The version of basic included with most computers didn't allow you to compile your program.

There were innumerable code text editors for DOS.

Besides, what you're saying is people wrote better replacements for the bundled stuff. Netscape, however, was worse than Explorer.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#142
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The case against Microsoft was that they used revenue from other markets to offer a browser for free so that they could prevent a competition in the browser space... There is an argument that the browser is a feature, not a product. But that is not the case for back then.

Both parties offered a free browser. Boo-hoo. Have you noticed that vast categories of computer programs are free today? Do you realize that every one of those was funded by revenue obtained elsewhere? That whole anti-trust case was chock full of jaw-dropping absurdities. BTW, the D Language Foundation is funded by donations. We charge $0 for our products. Anyone can also fork it and do whatever they please with the…

You comparing the D Language Foundation to Microsoft here is nothing short of hilarious. Does your nonprofit even have employees? How much of the market have you captured? How many billions of dollars in revenue are you getting?

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#143

I'd be curious if anyone can explain why the FTC doesn't go after Amazon for using its dominance and profits in AWS to massively subsidize its Amazon.com retail offerings (i.e. movie studio/healthcare/grocery/delivery) and undercut its competition in those spaces. It's seem to have stopped since ZIRP has ended and Bezos has moved on but for awhile the AWS profits seem like they were feeding an ever growing conglomera…

I am speaking entirely speculatively, but I’d imagine it might be having to do with going for low-hanging fruit, or at least trying to chip away legally before (or instead of) sweeping anti-trust litigation. The appetite for this kind of action hasn’t exactly been great the last few decades, and big swings can lead to big misses (like Activision-Microsoft)

Lina Khan has great intentions but poor results. None of her big tech trials have been successful.

EU seems to have a better track record reigning big tech than US DOJ.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#145
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies are the engines that drive an economy with productivity and employment. Small companies are the future big companies. A healthy economy needs both. Trying to bias an economy towards small business means your economy will be backward and unproductive. > If we agree that smaller companies are more efficient I did not say that. Small companies become big companies by being more efficient than existing big…

> Big companies are the engines that drive an economy with productivity and employment there are enough economies where productivity is driven by small companies. For example: about 56% of employment and 43% of revenue of germany comes from small companies. It was even higher in the past. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Branchen-Unternehmen/Unter...

That means most of the revenue is coming from the big companies.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies are the engines that drive an economy with productivity and employment. Small companies are the future big companies. A healthy economy needs both. Trying to bias an economy towards small business means your economy will be backward and unproductive. > If we agree that smaller companies are more efficient I did not say that. Small companies become big companies by being more efficient than existing big…

> Trying to bias an economy towards small business means your economy will be backward and unproductive. Nice straw man you got there! The point is to ensure a competitive marketplace where small companies can survive.

Small companies do well in a free market. They always have. There's no need for a bias towards them.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies are the engines that drive an economy with productivity and employment. Small companies are the future big companies. A healthy economy needs both. Trying to bias an economy towards small business means your economy will be backward and unproductive. > If we agree that smaller companies are more efficient I did not say that. Small companies become big companies by being more efficient than existing big…

> Big companies are the engines that drive an economy with productivity and employment The German Mittelstand[0] companies very much disagree with your assessment. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand

The Mittelstand are not small companies, they have revenues up to a billion euros.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#148
post #21

Am I reading this right? Amazon accepted advertisers hawking junk ads which made ad prices more expensive and gave less relevant ads to their customers. This can't be a violation of any law or ethical rules... Does anyone seriously think serving only good and relevant ads is an ethical obligation. Can't retailers accept ads from anyone without vetting for quality control. The only thing I can think of here is FTC is…

“Made site shittier to boost profit” describes nearly 100% of online advertising

"Raised prices to increase profits" describes many business decisions, but if a company does that after eliminating their competition, policymakers & economists understand that to be a bug of the algorithm 'capitalist market competition' that requires redress, a betrayal of a populace that has been sold a system on its merits (and is willing to tolerate its costs for those merits) but which is not displaying those merits consistently and is failing to improve our lives.

Arguably a firm that has established itself as a standard marketplace with strong network effects, should not be allowed to favor certain products with disproportionate placement in exchange for a kickback. They have become more like a government body than a private enterprise, and if they're dumb enough to slaughter that golden goose for temporary boosts ("dinner"), their behavior demands a degree of regulation if we are to ensure market competition & ensure a benefit to consumers and manufacturers.

What is the proposition for an independent vendor selling on Amazon? To them, the service of selling their merchandise is essentially a monopoly market, they don't get a choice of whether to participate, and Amazon charges high fees to start with and is now demanding ever-higher fees for reasonable search placement.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#149
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember SEO. Is it ads? No. Does it bring money? Yes. Expensive? Probably, simar to ads: both will eat the whole budget until empty and ask for more. But SEO is quite hidden and hard to define. Ads are there, see a banner. SEO? No obvious 100% criteria for it.

SEO is hidden? SEO is the sea that the entire internet has drowned in, unless you know where to go diving through it to find underwater caves that still have some air left.

Can a regular person (or an expert) tell that you see an ad? Usually yes, as it's banner or some visually distinct piece of a web or real estate.

Can one tell that a text is produced by SEO? Usually no (especially, when it's good quality).

Now, the difference is:

- In ads case, a government comes and asks for a tax. Because there is a clear case for a transaction in an economy sense (ad for money).

- In SEO case, no transaction proof is there. Can't come and ask to pay tax, or regulate anything. It could be a happy customer who wrote a piece of text. Or clever SEO author. Or both mixed. Can't tell! In this sense SEO brings less or no tax.

Re: Amazon execs intentionally made site shittier to rake in more profit – Lawsuit

#150
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a multibillion business and helps other businesses grow. And it even pays (some) taxes. Why would any authority even think about killing it?

Consumers have a limited wallet anyway, and you know how most people are: they will spend most of their income anyway. So the ad business is more about shifting where the money goes, than about conferring any extra value.

> Consumers have a limited wallet anyway

Banks and VCs are laughing on this.

Today's economy is not a zero-sum game. It's much more complex than that.

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