DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome • Hacker News Board

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#901

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:21 PM UTC

curiouscat321 wrote: post #5

Who would possibly buy Chrome? Letting any of the large tech companies purchase it (the only possible buyers) would just give someone else monopolistic power. Chrome can’t exist as a standalone business without being even more consumer hostile.

The argument that something is untouchable because it can't continue as a going concern without continuing user-hostile behaviours is unconvincing. It's not our fault Google chose this business model, just as it's not a coincidence Google made it difficult to break up and just distinct enough to be (supposedly, formerly) legally sound.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#902

Post by timbit42 » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:22 PM UTC

tway223 wrote: post #866

Who will be the buyer? ORCL or IBM?

More likely Microsoft since they are using the Chrome engine in Edge.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#903

Post by postalrat » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:26 PM UTC

Lets hope Apple doesn't buy and Dark Sky it.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#904

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:30 PM UTC

elmerfud wrote: post #44

hinkley wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t Google refusing to make changes that boost online privacy because it’ll tank their ad revenue?

But I don't see how that equates to a monopoly. They certainly have the ability to direct their development of their product in the way that they want. Since the core foundation of their product is open and available to every other competing browser they could implement better privacy protections while still leveraging all of the other benefits of Chrome. If the edge browser was so much better and much better privacy…

>Since the core foundation of their product is open and available to every other competing browser they could implement better privacy protections while still leveraging all of the other benefits of Chrome.

With what funding? Chrome loses money. Edge loses money. Safari loses money. Firefox loses Google's money. Brave loses VC money.

Without some endless source of money, funding you for an ulterior motive, you can't compete with them. Which is why:

>For all the downsides that Chrome has I don't see anything that fits the term better for my use case.

The anti-competitive practices ensure there can't be effective competition.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#905

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:34 PM UTC

XorNot wrote: post #42

elmerfud wrote: post #16

So I understand trying to break up monopolistic companies to provide better competition in the market which is generally better for the consumer as a whole. This strategy of saying Chrome should be sold off seems strange to me because unlike other monopolies Google's monopoly with Chrome is fundamentally different. Since Chrome at its core is the open source chromium browser engine the ability for your competition to…

I genuinely have no idea what "missing features" or incompatibilities keep people on Chrome compared to the benefits of uBlock just plain working better on Firefox.

The only reason I keep a Chrome installation is for when I want seemless in-page translation. Firefox just added a version of this feature but, for some reason, didn't include the most important language for nerds: Japanese.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#906

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:36 PM UTC

justahuman74 wrote: post #18

What is the actual asset to buy precisely? The code is already mostly open. You'd be paying for a user base who could leave at any moment?

For something supposedly valueless, Google are really interested in keeping it!

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#907

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:38 PM UTC

oliwarner wrote: post #591

You could make all these arguments against Android, no? Perhaps moreso while they maintain the garden wall. It isn't wrong to point out how harmful to society monopolies are, and to identify them, but the development of Chrome, Android, etc, do also present genuine value to anybody who wants that code. Without Google making money from the search/targeting/advertising model, who is paying for Chrome, Firefox and Googl…

You could, and I would.

The toys we enjoy today are not worth sacrificing future developments. Nothing advances customer interests as much as competition.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#908

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:42 PM UTC

fizlebit wrote: post #729

Am I alone in thinking that all the stuff I get for free (in exchange for some amount of targeted advertising) from Google is pretty cool and that these attempts to break up big tech are going to be very bad for consumers and the economy and is just punishing successful companies that produce products that customers want to use. You all can use mosaic/edge if you want to.

You get nice stuff for free, right up until the moment Google decide that they've done enough. Then you get nothing. And the unfair funding and disparity in features means no competitors can ever provide a superior alternative.

And then it might not be for free. It's very tempting to rent-seek when you have a captive user base. That's bad for consumers and bad for the economy.

Focusing on what we get today is myopic and it's not by mistake that Google give them to us.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#909

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:45 PM UTC

Tepix wrote: post #440

seydor wrote: post #379

Antimonopoly action is good for the market, but let's be honest nobody will make a better chrome, at best they will inject ads or turn it to a walled garden. It will be a bad thing in the end for us web developers , and we will lose the last open platform. Why is this considered a good move anyway? The obvious way to split google is to separate the buy side from the sell side of ads market

I haven't been using Chrome for a while because of the unacceptable privacy issues. " We will lose the last open platform " - umm, have you heard about Mozilla Firefox? It works really well.

In recent years, otherwise proud nerds have become absurdly hostile to the idea that Firefox could function as a daily browser.

Yet I often forget which one I'm using until I look at the shape of the tabs.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#910

Post by devnullbrain » Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 10:48 PM UTC

throwinothrside wrote: post #528

I have a feeling this will get worse. I can think of these companies which have the resources to take over Chrome - Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and Facebook. I can't see anybody else. They are all monopolies and is gonna screw it up big time for us consumers.

>I can think of these companies which have the resources to take over Chrome...

Exactly, who on Earth could build a competitor? You're describing the problem!

The ability to take stunning losses each year without worry, knowing that it pays dividends in the value to search, ensures competition can't flourish. So it is anti-competitive.