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Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

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Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#71

Post by _jab »

lordnacho wrote: post #46
jchw wrote: post #14

Google is probably screwed without it. Even if ad-tech isn't exactly a bubble, I strongly believe it is overvalued even still. Furthermore, the product that made their name is thoroughly lost. I dread Google Search today. If I found something on Google yesterday, I have no idea if I'll be able to locate it through the sea of blog SPAM and SEO garbage tomorrow. Google web search strongly favors big websites when somet…

I use search for coding a lot, and lately I've noticed it's hard to find what I'm after. If I'm looking for some small thing like what an sftp command looks like, I don't want an SEO essay about why SSH is great and we should all use encryption. I just want the example line. This seems to be what ChatGPT can give me. It doesn't always work, but it also doesn't beat around the bush.

Yup, exactly the same experience here. It feels like there's been a recent wave of SEO-optimized websites that consistently pop up when I google specific errors, but rarely have literally anything of substance.

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#72

Post by randmeerkat »

jliptzin wrote: post #40

I don’t understand arguments that say google will be left in the dust when it comes to AI. There’s no network effects like Facebook, it just takes a lot of money to train the models, which google obviously has. Do we really believe google, with all its resources and engineering talent, has no ability to develop something on par with OpenAI?

> Do we really believe google, with all its resources and engineering talent, has no ability to develop something on par with OpenAI?

Yes, they’re a large, bureaucratic organization, that’s incapable of developing new products or avenues of growth.

For the sake of argument though, let’s say Google created a product on par with ChatGPT, they would just kill it after a few months like every other Google service that they’ve made.

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#73

Post by [deleted] »

smoldesu wrote: post #50
spijdar wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing I really have any strong affection for is YouTube, and the people and content that made the platform special are constantly unhappy with it's corporate direction, not to mention the utter lack of support, claiming and affirming in appeals stupid pointless crap like "you said a naughty word in the first ten seconds of the video" when anyone with working ears can easily verify they did not. This is mos…

> the alternatives involve... no (automatic) monetization at all. This is 100% what it boils down to. Google is obviously not the only advertiser in town, but if the ad bubble pops, so does the free content economy on the internet. Some people will argue the internet would be better because of it, but the transition away from ad-supported viewership would decimate the web we know.

[deleted]

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#74

Post by blibble »

idontwantthis wrote: post #5

I don’t think comparing IBM to Microsoft is fair or accurate. Microsoft is incredibly relevant and valuable today, many years after ending its antitrust investigation.

20 years ago MS had total dominance over the computer industry

(like IBM 20 years before that)

now MS aren't even trendsetter, but they are still raking in the cash

they are pretty much exactly where IBM was 20 years ago

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#75

Post by [deleted] »

Karunamon wrote: post #60
randmeerkat wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I googled Kagi, found their link… Not only is it required to create an account to use their service, they want a credit card to bill as well! Hard pass.

Yes, as a paid service who directly sells their primary product rather than a data mining, anti-privacy homunculus whose most famous product is merely a means to an end, an account and payment is required. This is strictly better than Google.

[deleted]

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#76

Post by miked85 »

jliptzin wrote: post #40

I don’t understand arguments that say google will be left in the dust when it comes to AI. There’s no network effects like Facebook, it just takes a lot of money to train the models, which google obviously has. Do we really believe google, with all its resources and engineering talent, has no ability to develop something on par with OpenAI?

Google acquired DeepMind almost a decade ago. I'm not sure if anything significant has been produced yet? Maybe it has, and it's all behind the scenes.

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#77

Post by harsh1618 »

smoldesu wrote: post #34
SCHiM wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently asked gpt to give me a markdown table of the continents, their landmass and their populations. I checked the numbers and they matched wikipedia. Google gave me listicles instead...

I recently asked ChatGPT to multiply 2 numbers together. Every search engine I tried yielded a product, except ChatGPT which gave me an excuse. They're useful in their own right, but you can't fool yourself into believing either one cannibalizes the other.

To be fair to ChatGPT though, all the search engines first recognize that the query is trying to perform an arithmetic calculation, then pass it on to a calculator. ChatGPT already understands what is being asked, it would be trivial to perform the next step, pass it on to a calculator and return the right answer.

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#78

Post by Karunamon »

[deleted] wrote: post #75
Karunamon wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, as a paid service who directly sells their primary product rather than a data mining, anti-privacy homunculus whose most famous product is merely a means to an end, an account and payment is required. This is strictly better than Google.

[deleted]

Your goals are mutually exclusive.

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#79

Post by treis »

smoldesu wrote: post #50
spijdar wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing I really have any strong affection for is YouTube, and the people and content that made the platform special are constantly unhappy with it's corporate direction, not to mention the utter lack of support, claiming and affirming in appeals stupid pointless crap like "you said a naughty word in the first ten seconds of the video" when anyone with working ears can easily verify they did not. This is mos…

> the alternatives involve... no (automatic) monetization at all. This is 100% what it boils down to. Google is obviously not the only advertiser in town, but if the ad bubble pops, so does the free content economy on the internet. Some people will argue the internet would be better because of it, but the transition away from ad-supported viewership would decimate the web we know.

Google is the only advertiser in town that matters. There's some private clubs you can go to (Facebook's properties, Amazon) but for generally placing ads or selling ad space on the internet it's Google.

Re: Google is screwed, even if it wins its antitrust case

#80

Post by randmeerkat »

Karunamon wrote: post #60
randmeerkat wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I googled Kagi, found their link… Not only is it required to create an account to use their service, they want a credit card to bill as well! Hard pass.

Yes, as a paid service who directly sells their primary product rather than a data mining, anti-privacy homunculus whose most famous product is merely a means to an end, an account and payment is required. This is strictly better than Google.

DuckDuckGo is 100% privacy focused, free, and doesn’t require an account or credit card to use.
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