Live data from Hacker News

Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

nytimes.com

41–50 of 309 posts

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

#41
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide even a single current example? Or just jumping on the MS-bashing bandwagon 'cause it's fun? Apple, Facebook, and Google all have current practices that are questionable. Pointing fingers are companies that have already paid their dues is just useless noise.

Is regulation really "one and done"? MS got fined (repeatedly) around 2000 so they're done with regulation? They at least have shady sales tactics.

Twenty years ago. Please try again. I hope you're constantly held accountable for things you did decades ago.

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

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And the down votes prove your point... Incredible.

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

#43
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.

That's what I always thought, but apparently it does now.

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

#44
I'm glad we're finally taking anti-trust seriously, but this timing is incredibly suspicious. Right after we put sanctions on Chinese tech, we start taking steps to limit our own?

A good, plausibly deniable soft power attack would be to make an antitrust case, present it to the feds with the work already done, and let them do their thing now that they basically have to take action or look foolish.

No malicious actors involved, except for the people who choose to trigger the audit at the opportune moment.

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

#45
Unsurprising. The government needs to appease the public after killing net neutrality.

And, now that ISPs don't need to follow net neutrality, the regional broadband monopolies are free to zero-rate their own video services like AT&T openly does [1]. Next they can throttle Netflix, charge them a premium, and pass costs to the consumer without taking any sort of financial hit for doing so.

[1] https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2019/02/13/isps-are-violating-t...

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

#47
post #13
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.

A monopoly isn't illegal, not in the US anyways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law#Mo...:

"First, the alleged monopolist must possess sufficient power in an accurately defined market for its products or services. Second, the monopolist must have used its power in a prohibited way"

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

#48

I'm glad we're finally taking anti-trust seriously, but this timing is incredibly suspicious. Right after we put sanctions on Chinese tech, we start taking steps to limit our own? A good, plausibly deniable soft power attack would be to make an antitrust case, present it to the feds with the work already done, and let them do their thing now that they basically have to take action or look foolish. No malicious actors…

Shitpost: do all the things bad for stock markets at once. Tariff wars, not lowering interest rates despite inverted yield curve, antitrust against large players.

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

#49

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…

For both IBM and Microsoft, I would argue that anti-trust cases at least contributed to their fall from the top. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/15/business/us-vsibm.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor... .

Don't know about IBM, but in case of Microsoft it was some really horrible technical decisions and a lot of internal fights that caused their downfall.

Well, maybe downfall is a harsh word for a company still very successful & profitable...

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

#50
post #46

Disappointed that the telecom media conglomerates aren't getting more scrutiny.

Agreed. Net neutrality needs to be an election issue in 2020. Red/blue agree. The most upvoted comment ever removed from t_d was about NN [1] [2].

[1] https://revddit.com/user/yiannopoulos_m?after=t1_dirwgoo&lim...

[2] https://revddit.com/r/the_donald

Post reply on HN