5 ms·

People are not forced to use Google Search of Gmail. They are free to use alternatives like DDG or Bing and Yahoo Mail or etc

dmitriid 8y ago
Yes, they are “free to chose alternatives”. But Google is a monopoly, so... And through the monopoly users are forced to use AMP.
- colejohnson66 8y ago
  Do you know what the word monopoly means? It comes from mono- meaning one. So if there are alternatives, there isn’t one option, therefore, it isn’t a monopoly
  - hw 8y ago
    Don't have to be pedantic about it. Google is big enough and controls enough marketshare that it can be considered a monopoly. Especially when it rolls out something like 'AMP' that eventually causes others to follow suit to support it.
    - skj 8y ago
      Calling Google search a monopoly is trivially wrong given totally viable and easily usable alternatives. Ads, however...
    - qnsi 8y ago
      Hey sorry for offtopic, but I saw your post about TwitchVC - is it dead now? Join link from blogpost doesn't work
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    Google doesn't have to be literally the only search provider to have a monopoly. It just has to have virtually all the market share (it does) and high barriers to entry (it does). Microsoft had a monopoly on operating systems in the nineties, despite the existence of other OS's.
JohnFen 8y ago
But the AMP infection has spread to those as well. Well, DDG at least. I had to stop using the "news" tab on DDG because of the high percentage of results there that are AMP links.
AlexandrB 8y ago
> People are not forced to use Google Search of Gmail. I think the GP misspoke. It's more accurate to say that people are forced to use Google products. Even if you use DDG and Fastmail there's no escaping reCaptcha, AMP, and Google Analytics - unless you want to limit yourself to only a few websites.
- benatkin 8y ago
  I don’t think so. I think GP used the term monopoly when oligopoly would have been more appropriate. I use the term oligopoly but it’s quite common to say monopoly because it’s a very similar thing. Also Duck Duck Go is not comparable to Google Search or Bing.
m463 8y ago
You cannot make an appointment on the california DMV website without using Google products.

dmitriid 8y ago

Yes, they are “free to chose alternatives”. But Google is a monopoly, so... And through the monopoly users are forced to use AMP.

colejohnson66 8y ago
Do you know what the word monopoly means? It comes from mono- meaning one. So if there are alternatives, there isn’t one option, therefore, it isn’t a monopoly
- hw 8y ago
  Don't have to be pedantic about it. Google is big enough and controls enough marketshare that it can be considered a monopoly. Especially when it rolls out something like 'AMP' that eventually causes others to follow suit to support it.
  - skj 8y ago
    Calling Google search a monopoly is trivially wrong given totally viable and easily usable alternatives. Ads, however...
  - qnsi 8y ago
    Hey sorry for offtopic, but I saw your post about TwitchVC - is it dead now? Join link from blogpost doesn't work
- pcwalton 8y ago
  Google doesn't have to be literally the only search provider to have a monopoly. It just has to have virtually all the market share (it does) and high barriers to entry (it does). Microsoft had a monopoly on operating systems in the nineties, despite the existence of other OS's.

JohnFen 8y ago

But the AMP infection has spread to those as well. Well, DDG at least. I had to stop using the "news" tab on DDG because of the high percentage of results there that are AMP links.

AlexandrB 8y ago

> People are not forced to use Google Search of Gmail. I think the GP misspoke. It's more accurate to say that people are forced to use Google products. Even if you use DDG and Fastmail there's no escaping reCaptcha, AMP, and Google Analytics - unless you want to limit yourself to only a few websites.

benatkin 8y ago
I don’t think so. I think GP used the term monopoly when oligopoly would have been more appropriate. I use the term oligopoly but it’s quite common to say monopoly because it’s a very similar thing. Also Duck Duck Go is not comparable to Google Search or Bing.

m463 8y ago

You cannot make an appointment on the california DMV website without using Google products.