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Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

nytimes.com

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Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#21

Post by math-fan »

Apocryphon wrote: post #6
icxa wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government finally had it with the amount of power they have over culture and messing with their 3 letter agency initiatives? I am one of those pessimistic folk who views everything on a geopolitical stage as a power struggle, so..

From the left, populist economists calling for Big Tech to be broken up for monopoly and tax dodging. From the right, culture warriors calling for regulation so their chosen avatars of free speech are not de-platformed. From the bottom, consumer advocates angry at the privacy abuses of large corporations, not to mention increasingly shoddy quality caused by lack of competition. From the top, as you mentioned- tech co…

十伏埋面 - ten volt buried surface

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#22

Post by Egraveline »

I guess we'll see how this plays out. I would of course like to see anti competitive behavior be minimized, but how they will go about that I'm not sure. Even if they are broken up, I doubt we will see much improvement for lowering the barrier of entry for these industries. I would like to hear what other users' thoughts are about what to do to prevent anti competitive tactics without regulating the market too heavily.

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#23

Post by WalterBright »

manfredo wrote: post #8
Havoc wrote: post #3

Not MS? They're all kinda up to the same shenanigans really

Does Microsoft really have any monopolies? They have a big OS market share, but operating systems have become less and less relevant as mobile computing grows. Same deal with office. Bing is nowhere near the market share as google. Azure competes with AWS and others. Xbox competes with Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft store competes with Steam. IE and edge are also being beaten by Chrome. I think the argument that Micros…

MSFT is getting hammered along with the rest, though.

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#24

Post by partiallypro »

Havoc wrote: post #13
manfredo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Microsoft really have any monopolies? They have a big OS market share, but operating systems have become less and less relevant as mobile computing grows. Same deal with office. Bing is nowhere near the market share as google. Azure competes with AWS and others. Xbox competes with Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft store competes with Steam. IE and edge are also being beaten by Chrome. I think the argument that Micros…

>Same deal with office. Excel? I'm in the finance world and I can say with confidence that they've got 100% market share. We use google sheet too. Every day even....for tracking everyone's QuizOfTheDay scores. Great track but not even close to Excel replacement.

That means Microsoft has a better product, that doesn't mean it's a monopoly.

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#25

Post by not_a_moth »

Apocryphon wrote: post #6
icxa wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government finally had it with the amount of power they have over culture and messing with their 3 letter agency initiatives? I am one of those pessimistic folk who views everything on a geopolitical stage as a power struggle, so..

From the left, populist economists calling for Big Tech to be broken up for monopoly and tax dodging. From the right, culture warriors calling for regulation so their chosen avatars of free speech are not de-platformed. From the bottom, consumer advocates angry at the privacy abuses of large corporations, not to mention increasingly shoddy quality caused by lack of competition. From the top, as you mentioned- tech co…

Holy smokes, since when did interest in our constitutional rights of free speech become a "right" thing?

It seems like the "From the right" should be "right-wing belief that tech platforms push left-wing biases", true or not, that is their gripe.

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#26

Post by partiallypro »

Havoc wrote: post #12
jefe_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to say there aren't things they could probably be investigated for, but in the cases of search, cloud computing, and mobile Microsoft has actually been the 'underdog' competitor. They successfully gained inroads to cloud computing thanks to Azure, but Bing has never had the search market share of Google, and mobile offerings were never Android or iOS. Microsoft as the 'victim' of anti-competitive behavior would h…

Azure is like the 2nd biggest cloud. Underdog...I think not. I mentioned them mostly since it seems odd excluding them more than specific actions they took. Google is going to get wrecked on anti-trust somewhere though that's for sure. My money is on mobile or browser.

Azure is still incredibly small compared to AWS, and it has plenty of competition. No one is attacking Amazon for having AWS on Antitrust grounds anyhow. It certainly is a cash cow they use to corner other markets, but it by itself is not problematic.

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#27

Post by WalterBright »

In my career, first it was IBM, the unstoppable juggernaut that was going to take over the world. Then it was Microsoft, and everyone forgot about IBM. Then it was Apple, and everyone forgot about Microsoft.

Before IBM, it was RCA. Everyone has forgotten about RCA.

It's like in retail. First it's Sears, the unstoppable juggernaut that will take over the world. Then it's Walmart, and Sears is bankrupt. Now it's Amazon, and Walmart is the underdog.

It's almost as if the theory that monopolies inevitably grow to take over the world has serious problems :-)

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#28

Post by paxys »

partiallypro wrote: post #24
Havoc wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Same deal with office. Excel? I'm in the finance world and I can say with confidence that they've got 100% market share. We use google sheet too. Every day even....for tracking everyone's QuizOfTheDay scores. Great track but not even close to Excel replacement.

That means Microsoft has a better product, that doesn't mean it's a monopoly.

Those two aren't mutually exclusive

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#29

Post by WalterBright »

Egraveline wrote: post #22

I guess we'll see how this plays out. I would of course like to see anti competitive behavior be minimized, but how they will go about that I'm not sure. Even if they are broken up, I doubt we will see much improvement for lowering the barrier of entry for these industries. I would like to hear what other users' thoughts are about what to do to prevent anti competitive tactics without regulating the market too heavil…

Just recall what happened to Standard Oil. SO's market share continued to decline throughout the anti-trust trial against them. Rockefeller was unable to stem the tide of nimbler competitors.

What happens is when companies exceed a certain size, the inefficiencies of central planning tend to paralyze them and they fail to adapt to changing circumstances, and go into decline.

Re: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

#30

Post by partiallypro »

paxys wrote: post #28
partiallypro wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That means Microsoft has a better product, that doesn't mean it's a monopoly.

Those two aren't mutually exclusive

You're correct, but in this case it's clear Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly on spreadsheets. They just make the best software. They aren't bashing vendors over the head with Excel, etc. IMO the case for Apple or Microsoft being monopolistic is pretty weak compared to Google, Facebook and perhaps Amazon. Apple has a problem because it's such a walled garden. Microsoft generally doesn't have any of the problems the FAANG (sans Netflix) companies have.

This, currently on the front page...sure doesn't sound like Excel is a monopoly https://foundationinc.co/lab/the-saas-opportunity-of-unbundl...

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