3 ms·
Genuine question from someone not well versed in this topic but interested in learning more, can you give me some examples of what Google is doing that is abusi
by Inconel 10y ago
Genuine question from someone not well versed in this topic but interested in learning more, can you give me some examples of what Google is doing that is abusive of their monopoly power, particularly as it relates to Chrome?
I'm aware of some of the issues involving Android licensing/bundling of apps but not well informed on other aspects.
- kozhevnikov 10y agoYesterday they banned a privacy extension that doesn't fit their business model and forcefully removed it from users who already had it installed. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13327228 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13327228
- Inconel 10y agoThanks, I completely missed that thread.
- pjmlp 10y agoChromeOS, while not that much successful outside USA, it appears to be a thing there. So if you have a browser based OS, which happens to be loved by the USA school system, which browser do you think many US devs will care mostly about?
- Inconel 10y agoI'm not trying to be contrarian here but why do you consider ChromeOS to be an abuse of monopoly power? Is it because ChromeOS development is being subsidized by ad revenue to enter into a new market?
- pjmlp 10y agoCan you install alternative browsers on ChromeOS, when the OS is basically a UI managing Chrome instances?
- Inconel 10y agoNo. But unless I'm mistaken ChromeOS doesn't come close to having a dominant position in the OS market. Isn't this somewhat analogous to not being able to install another OS on an iOS device or even a non Webkit based browser? Again just to be clear, these questions are in good faith, I'm not simply trying to be argumentative, I'm hoping to get a better understanding of the issues.
- pjmlp 10y agoLike I said, apparently they are selling like hot cakes by USA schools, so it holds dominant position in USA education system. Yes if you think in Global market share, Chromebooks don't matter. I hardly see them on sale here when traveling across Europe. However any US software company doing web applications for the American school system will probably be biased to focus on Chrome.
- reitanqild 10y agoDisclaimer: late answer, my personal opinions, I do not have perfect memory etc. Advertising Chrome as "a better browser" in (IIRC) search results, gmail, possibly other places as well counts as abuse of monopoly IMO. Microsoft was punished for similar tactics back when the default desktop was equally important as top of Google search results and top of Gmail inbox.