Google is not a public service

Story: Mozilla Responds to European Commissions Google Android DecisionTotal Replies: 6
Author Content
nmset

Jul 19, 2018
3:54 AM EDT
EU socialists are unfair as usual. Perhaps they want Mercedez Benz to offer customers the choice to run on Harley Davidson engines. No one is compelled to use Android or Chrome OS and services. These are Google 's properties and not public ones. Competitors are free to build their own ecosystem.
seatex

Jul 19, 2018
9:36 AM EDT
nmset - I'm not a Google fan, but I agree with your points.
jdixon

Jul 19, 2018
10:46 AM EDT
> Competitors are free to build their own ecosystem.

Are they? Really? Build it and the will come by itself doesn't work very well in the marketplace.

Google is an effective monopoly. As with any monopoly it will have a limited lifespan, but that doesn't change the fact that it is. As such it is subject to much greater state scrutiny than a non-monopoly.

Incidentally, the Google Pagerank patent was filed on 1/9/98 and has now expired. If anyone wants to set up a Google competitor using their original ranking method they are free to do so. See https://patents.google.com/patent/US6285999 for the details.

That doesn't even get into the much rumored NSA and CIA funding of Google. Folks can research that for themselves.
nmset

Jul 19, 2018
2:32 PM EDT
>Google is an effective monopoly

Not really true, Apple still owns a huge mobile market share.

> Are they? Really?

Well the EU can fund a new project that meets their needs. Small companies are not real competitors to such a giant. They are not complaining either. The EU is making noise : Oh you 've done something amazing, we 'll hijack it now.
nmset

Jul 19, 2018
3:46 PM EDT
And what is the EU reproaching Google? That it favors itself over competitors by defaulting its own tools (browser, app store, search engine...)? But that's plain business since ages. They are at the same time providing free and useful services to countless users. I insist on free of charge services to users, not a single user ever paid a cent to Google for Android or Chrome OS, even the EU people who are making the case. So let Google earn what it may.

Now this may also be retaliatory to the trade war started by the USA against the world, but this lies beyond technology. If it's political, everything gets meaningless.
seatex

Jul 19, 2018
5:14 PM EDT
> "the trade war started by the USA against the world"

Actually, we didn't start the trade war. We are just, finally, responding to the unfair balance of trade we have allowed for decades, to our economic detriment.
flufferbeer

Jul 20, 2018
12:26 AM EDT
@jdixon,

>> Google is an effective monopoly. As with any monopoly it will have a limited lifespan, but that doesn't change the fact that it is. As such it is subject to much greater state scrutiny than a non-monopoly.

+1!

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