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Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

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Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#21

Post by mikeocool »

internet101010 wrote: post #16
paxys wrote: post #2

It'll be interesting to see how the new administration deals with all of the big tech antitrust investigations and lawsuits it inherits. On one hand Trump and the Republicans hate these corporations, and would love the opportunity to take them down a notch. On the other their entire governing agenda is about deregulation, dismantling of federal agencies and being pro-business. Interesting situation to be in.

I'm really worried about what happens to the case against RealPage.

Would be really remarkable to call yourself a populist and then kill the case against landlords colluding to raise rent, but seems like that’s what’s likely to happen.

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#22

Post by JumpCrisscross »

mikeocool wrote: post #21
internet101010 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really worried about what happens to the case against RealPage.

Would be really remarkable to call yourself a populist and then kill the case against landlords colluding to raise rent, but seems like that’s what’s likely to happen.

> remarkable to call yourself a populist

Trump never used this language. (He was also aggressive against Big Tech in his first term.)

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#24

Post by talldayo »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #13

It needs to start with a retroactive investigation of what happened with Teams, which was such an obvious anticompetitive abuse to steal market share away from Slack and others. But it needs to go a lot deeper and touch everything. The acquisitions of GitHub, LinkedIn, and other companies. Things like shoving unwanted ads into Windows due to a lack of competition. Repeated aggressive nudges to use Edge over other bro…

> He is 100% part of the old Microsoft guard.

I don't think people really fear the Microsoft old guard anymore. HN loves to wave around the Halloween documents as evidence of Microsoft's persisting evil, but the remaining Windows users can't be made to care. If anything, most of the Windows/Microsoft product users I speak with want the old user philosophy to return.

Ironically, the advertising, data collection and service revenue abuse of Windows doesn't appear to even be a serious concern from the looks of the report. They're more interested in Microsoft's abusive B2B contracts, which have been reputably sketchy for years now. Burning down your operating system for the sake of service revenue isn't illegal - if it was, Tim Cook would have been put behind bars a decade ago.

This is what consumer protection looks like; for modern Americans. Don't forget that, the US government does not give even the faintest shit about your awful user experience if the OEM plays fair ball. Feeling free yet?

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#26

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

panarky wrote: post #8
paxys wrote: post #2

It'll be interesting to see how the new administration deals with all of the big tech antitrust investigations and lawsuits it inherits. On one hand Trump and the Republicans hate these corporations, and would love the opportunity to take them down a notch. On the other their entire governing agenda is about deregulation, dismantling of federal agencies and being pro-business. Interesting situation to be in.

What happens when you eliminate the independence of agencies like the DOJ and FTC, replace experienced leaders with party loyalists, and tee up opportunities for selective prosecution? Equal justice under law collapses into a race to see which competitor can pay the largest ransom.

This is what makes me so angry and sad. My objections to the incoming administration largely have nothing to do with policy (I may disagree with policies, but I think it's easy to have an honest disagreement about that, and many of the purported policies I can agree with), but it's that it's now completely overt that the number one qualification for political appointees is obsequious fealty. I mean, we're closing in on banana republic levels of overt corruption: the only thing that matters is bending the knee.

Paul Krugman (who I often disagree with) had a good article on how the rise of tariffs will be perfect for crony capitalism: the executive branch can't pick and choose who pays income taxes, but currently the executive branch has extremely wide latitude over tariffs, and especially, who gets exemptions. Watch as corporations line up to pledge allegiance in order to get tariff exemptions.

I'm just completely at a loss at how this behavior, which would have been looked on with disgust on both sides of the political spectrum until very recently, is now so readily accepted.

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#27

Post by dagmx »

ThatMedicIsASpy wrote: post #20
dagmx wrote: post #6

If I’m reading this correctly, it seems to focus largely on Microsoft services tying you to Azure? This could be a pretty big boon to self hosting if successful.

self hosting for all the software that is increasingly becoming cloud only?

Self hosting doesn’t mean the opposite of cloud hosted, it just means that you can run it on your companies owned server infrastructure. Whether that’s locally hosted or remote hosted.

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#28

Post by dagmx »

talldayo wrote: post #18
dagmx wrote: post #6

If I’m reading this correctly, it seems to focus largely on Microsoft services tying you to Azure? This could be a pretty big boon to self hosting if successful.

Self-hosting is not held back by Azure.

Pray tell how I can self host Microsoft Teams today on anything but azure?

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#29

Post by sleepybrett »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #26
panarky wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when you eliminate the independence of agencies like the DOJ and FTC, replace experienced leaders with party loyalists, and tee up opportunities for selective prosecution? Equal justice under law collapses into a race to see which competitor can pay the largest ransom.

This is what makes me so angry and sad. My objections to the incoming administration largely have nothing to do with policy (I may disagree with policies, but I think it's easy to have an honest disagreement about that, and many of the purported policies I can agree with), but it's that it's now completely overt that the number one qualification for political appointees is obsequious fealty. I mean, we're closing in…

> I mean, we're closing in on banana republic levels of overt corruption: the only thing that matters is bending the knee.

my dude, we passed that in 2016

Re: Microsoft Faces Broad Antitrust Investigation from US FTC

#30

Post by QuarterReptile »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #26
panarky wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when you eliminate the independence of agencies like the DOJ and FTC, replace experienced leaders with party loyalists, and tee up opportunities for selective prosecution? Equal justice under law collapses into a race to see which competitor can pay the largest ransom.

This is what makes me so angry and sad. My objections to the incoming administration largely have nothing to do with policy (I may disagree with policies, but I think it's easy to have an honest disagreement about that, and many of the purported policies I can agree with), but it's that it's now completely overt that the number one qualification for political appointees is obsequious fealty. I mean, we're closing in…

Trump 45 never got off the ground because he just tried to pick the smartest generals, who in turn disagreed with him on many things and eventually broke with him. Republican legislature is similarly undisciplined. On Democrat agendas, a single senator will defect during important bills. When Republicans have control, some random Rep stages a coup against the leadership.

I think they're realizing that you don't win at party politics by failing to have a party, and the party is more than just cheerleaders and fundraising. They're clearly not done consolidating power yet, considering the withdrawal of Gaetz and the lingering of a few impeachment representatives.

Hopefully what he gains in consistency and teamwork isn't totally overshadowed by the fact that his loyal people are, in many cases, not longtime government officials.

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