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DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

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Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#981

Post by Vegenoid »

InsomniacL wrote: post #526
ThePhysicist wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't have a similar position in any space though, or do they? In terms of market share they're not even the biggest player in the smartphone market, they sit below 20 % (the most profitable 20 % though). Google, in comparison, absolutely dominates the search and ad markets and sucks all oxygen out of them to keep any competition from springing up by controlling distribution and limiting choice. They e.g. pai…

> Apple doesn't have a similar position in any space though, or do they? Apple has exclusive control over a market (AppStore), which has almost 2 million different products (Apps), 820,000 suppliers (app publishers) and over 1.3 billion customers (active iPhone users) which conducts more trade ($1.1 trillion) than the entire GDP of Luxemburg. If that's not a monopoly i don't know what is.

While those are big numbers, determining if a company has a monopoly requires looking at the numbers and market share of competing companies as well.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#982

Post by timbit42 »

citizenpaul wrote: post #973
timbit42 wrote: post #900

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be spun off into a separate company, or Microsoft could buy it seeing Edge uses the engine.

>Microsoft could buy it I wish you understood why that is funny.

Well, it's funny but it's also sad.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#984

Post by chaosharmonic »

deanCommie wrote: post #917
chaosharmonic wrote: post #789

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This isn't an isolated attempt. You can see more of the same thing with Android. Here are more: - (jumping off of your second point...) Play Services does more than just handle stuff you sign into as a user -- it's also a dependency for everything from push notifications to screen casting. This actively poses issues building competing platforms, in that in order to give developers a path to shipping in your ecosyst…

> Even the combined resources of Amazon and Microsoft weren't enough to overcome this. Pedantically, their resources were never combined. They independently tried to compete, and they independently failed. For what it's worth though, Amazon seems to be doing tidy business with entrypoint tablets and FireOS, which is a fork of Android, but still one they own. Microsoft's exit of mobile was a short-sighted decision IMO…

> Pedantically, their resources were never combined. They independently tried to compete, and they independently failed.

I'm talking about Windows Subsystem for Android, which leveraged Amazon's app store.

Though honestly, their application strategy since Windows 8 has been fascinating. Watching them:

- ship Linux and Android app support

- replace their first-party browser with a Chrome derivative (and inherit all the PWA support of its parent)

- ship first-party support for .NET and PowerShell on other platforms

- ship React Native builds for Windows and macOS

...all suggest they're really trying not to get into the same hole as what happened with Metro, by giving you a lot of different ways to build something that can then run on modern versions of Windows -- regardless of whether that's even necessarily your goal.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#985

Post by xvector »

bloppe wrote: post #935

First, it's important to keep a clear view of what's actually for sale here. Chromium is an open source project that already forms the basis of other browsers (most prominently Edge and Brave) and does not include all the weird Google stuff that the the DOJ takes issue with (tracking for ads, special privileges for Google websites, etc.). Chrome is basically a thin layer of shittiness on top of Chromium. That thin la…

Amazon or Meta could buy it as well.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#987

Post by red_dragon »

afavour wrote: post #50

I don’t really understand how this would work and the article doesn’t really give me enough detail to know. But for me, Google abandoning their plans to disable third party cookies tells me everything I need to know: their ad business calls the shots and an ad company having monopoly over the browser market is an unequivocally bad thing. I just have no idea how we get from here to there. And let’s be real, with Trump…

It is not clear to me how Chrome having a majority share in the browser market is a monopoly. Is it somehow constraining other browsers to not be developed? On the contrary Google maintains the Chromium project, and funds Mozilla directly. I don't think that's what monopolies do, i.e., monopolies don't actively cultivate competitors.

If people aren't choosing to use Firefox, Brave, Edge, etc. even though many of the competitors get the benefit of free Google engg labor on Chromium and are not connected to the so-called ad machine, maybe they don't want like the alternatives.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#988

Post by red_dragon »

bsaul wrote: post #64
dyauspitr wrote: post #20

Why? What a stupid move. It’s like actively working to drive our largest corporations into the ground so China can replace it with some bullshit.

I think on the contrary, that the number of brilliant people being paid for doing nothing at google is what slows US down compared to china. Only monopoles like google can afford to burn so much cash. And that's a clear loss for the economy.

> number of brilliant people being paid for doing nothing at google is what slows US down compared to china

Ever read the Transformer paper? Or AlphaGo? You know that two of this year's nobel laureates are from Google? A few years ago the Turing award was won by a Googler?

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#990

Post by a-loup-e »

learningstud wrote: post #948
rkharsan64 wrote: post #510

People here seem to be underestimating the advantages that Google gets just because of Chrome: - When you sign in to Google, you sign in browser-wide. Google now gets all of your browsing data, perfect for advertising. (If you ever doubt it, go check out Google Takeout. You'll be shocked at the amount of data you see there.) - They have special APIs and features that they get to use, and nobody else. Only because the…

Yes, Google gains advantages through the Chrome browser so do we as consumers. The competition for Chrome should come from a better Browser not by being forced to sell it. DOJ is wasting time and taxes on this pointless verdict. Even more economic wastes are coming when the selling happens.

Thinking things just "should" happen is how we get to this issue in the first place.
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