Hey Commie: This is America. Monopolies are perfectly fine.
Go back to the Soviet Union where you belong.
Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#22I think the main problem here is not if Google is a monopoly at this very moment. But when you consider the speed with which they acquire new data from virtually every area where a lot of information exists, you have to ask yourself, how dangerous can it be, if they at some point in the future decide: "Hey, lets just kick the don't-be-evil nonsense and start making more money."
Of course something like that would have legal consequences, but regardless of that, Google could totally change the web within a day if they wanted to. For all the good they are doing, I think it is absolutely vital to always consider where the whole thing might be headed sometime in the future.
Just some problematic examples:
1) Like last week, something broke at Google, a good part of the web was non-usable because of embedded analytics code and so on. In the future this could just mean, that any downtime of Google would have implications alike to when your ISP is down.
2) Thanks to analytics and their own various services, they must have user-data that is beyond any imagination. Like a whole shopping history nicely matched to your email and health problems. That is just scary.
So, I think the real question is not whether Google is a monopoly, but more like 'How scary could a Google-monopoly be?'
What do you think?
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they are they're certainly being discreet about it. Microsoft was obviously anti-competitive in the 90's. The Windows/IE bundling thing was only a small part of it. All of their software was designed to lock you in. It could sometimes be difficult to use a Microsoft product without having to use others. It can be a hassle to buy a new PC without Windows, but you couldn't do it at all back then. After the OS/2 fias…
Speaking of moving my data, is there a way for me to migrate out of Gmail? I read an interview (Playboy interview with the Google founders - http://kottke.org/plus/misc/google-playboy.html ) where Larry Page specifically said: 'For example, we just released Gmail, a free e-mail service. We said, “We will not hold your e-mail hostage.” We will make it possible for you to get your e-mail out of Gmail if you ever want t…
gmail has pop and imap. what more do you want
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they are they're certainly being discreet about it. Microsoft was obviously anti-competitive in the 90's. The Windows/IE bundling thing was only a small part of it. All of their software was designed to lock you in. It could sometimes be difficult to use a Microsoft product without having to use others. It can be a hassle to buy a new PC without Windows, but you couldn't do it at all back then. After the OS/2 fias…
Speaking of moving my data, is there a way for me to migrate out of Gmail? I read an interview (Playboy interview with the Google founders - http://kottke.org/plus/misc/google-playboy.html ) where Larry Page specifically said: 'For example, we just released Gmail, a free e-mail service. We said, “We will not hold your e-mail hostage.” We will make it possible for you to get your e-mail out of Gmail if you ever want t…
Yeah, just setup the pop3 account and download it. I think you export your contacts as vcards - even if not most of your contacts should be right there in your email.
I fire up thunderbird everyonce in a while to basically backup my emails because of those horror stories of people losing all their email or even access to the account
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
And how do we know that Google isn't taking anti-competitive actions?
If we want to accuse Google of taking anti-competitive actions, we have to at least decide what those actions are.
It'd have to be something like AdSense click-thru rates affecting search positions.
If there was a causation, then if you want higher SERPs, you'd need to use AdSense over competing ad providers. Essentially, using their monopoly in Search to be anti-competitive in text-ads.
I wonder if anybody has done such a test already...
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Speaking of moving my data, is there a way for me to migrate out of Gmail? I read an interview (Playboy interview with the Google founders - http://kottke.org/plus/misc/google-playboy.html ) where Larry Page specifically said: 'For example, we just released Gmail, a free e-mail service. We said, “We will not hold your e-mail hostage.” We will make it possible for you to get your e-mail out of Gmail if you ever want t…
Yeah, just setup the pop3 account and download it. I think you export your contacts as vcards - even if not most of your contacts should be right there in your email. I fire up thunderbird everyonce in a while to basically backup my emails because of those horror stories of people losing all their email or even access to the account
Cool, thanks.
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#27Google may have a monopoly on search, however, it hasn't come to that monopoly via anticompetitive actions, as far as we know. At least, no one has reported on any. Furthermore, as I think Gruber pointed out not too long ago, Google isn't selling search, it's selling advertising.
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#28Normally when we talk about monopolies being inefficient or "shaft[ing] the end user" we are concerned with the monopoly raising price and restricting quantity. Search engines do not (generally) charge a direct price, but they do implicitly charge a price in the form of ads on the page. If Google decides to blanket their search results with many more ads than they currently do, I have no problem switching to a competitor. Lots of other people will switch too.
There are conceivably other ways that Google could indirectly raise prices on consumers, but realistically it is a huge waste of money to prosecute a company that gives stuff out for free. Furthermore, threatening such action poisons the business environment by making investment more risky. It is a terrible idea.
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#29"Do not use Google's products or services when you can avoid it" is probably a reasonable guideline if one is concerned? A milder version would be "try to distribute your services between different providers."
The question to ask is not so much whether they are a monopoly, but "what if Google went down for a couple days?" Quite a few people would be completely and utterly screwed.
Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
#30As far as I understand, the legality of a monopoly depends on whether it takes anticompetitive actions. Microsoft wasn't put down just for being big -- it was put down for including Internet Explorer into operating system, thus using an unfair advantage to promote its monopoly.
And how do we know that Google isn't taking anti-competitive actions?
If you are aware of some, point them out. In Microsoft's case, they are known, proven and verifiable.