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But Google has a way bigger search market share than Microsoft had browser market share at the time. And Google leverages Chrome to build and maintain search ma
by theturtletalks 7y ago
But Google has a way bigger search market share than Microsoft had browser market share at the time. And Google leverages Chrome to build and maintain search market dominance by making Google the default search engine on Chrome. Microsoft wasn’t doing that with IE. It’s not like Microsoft was stopping Netscape on Windows. All things considered, Google is showing more signs of being a monopoly than Microsoft was at the time.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoGetting a monopoly isn't necessarily an antitrust issue. The primary issue is if you have a monopoly on X, and you use that monopoly to try to gain market share in Y. So, Microsoft had a monopoly on PC operating systems, and they were using that to try to increase their dominance in web browsers. That's using your X to try to extend control of Y. (They weren't stopping Netscape on Windows, but they were trying very hard to reduce their market share as much as possible - to the point that they were paying websites to introduce Netscape-incompatible features. Internally, they said, "Try to make using Netscape a jarring experience".) Google, arguably, has an effective monopoly on search. That's their X. They do not have a monopoly on PC operating systems, or portable operating systems. They are using their Y to try to maintain their X, which, so far as I know (but IANAL) is not an antitrust issue.