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Google can't exist outside of the power company. I doubt very much that Google doesn't generate at least some of their own power. I'm quite confident that the

• philwelch 16y ago
  The analogy does hold up, because it doesn't rest on the specific quibbles you brought up--namely that Google has more of a monopoly on web advertising than Google's power company has on power. It rests on the fact that a company's dependence on another company's services says nothing about which company is bigger than the other.
  • mmt 16y ago
    I understand the point, which could very well hold up, but does the analogy? Saying that the analogy (argument) rests on "the fact that..." pretty blatantly begs the question. Is there a case where one company is both bigger than and wholly[1] depends on another, single company's services? I would be unsurprised if the answer is "no" and that this is the case because dependents are invariably absorbed or killed off by the "parent" before they can grow larger. [1] If the issue is monopoly, then my "quibble" is that, to Google (or any other electricity consumer beyond a modest size), no company has a monopoly on power.