4 ms·

This has to be done by the ground up by offering better alternatives rather than trying to tear down these tech companies. Also don't use their services. It is

This has to be done by the ground up by offering better alternatives rather than trying to tear down these tech companies. Also don't use their services. It is pretty easy to remove most of Google from your life. I don't think Google search is even that much better than the alternatives anymore (I am using Duck Duck Go and they are about the same these days tbh).

paxys 7y ago
Competition is not the answer to monopoly, since it the monopoly status which is preventing competition in the first place. This is why antitrust laws exist.
- pb7 7y ago
  Can anything on the internet really be a monopoly? Can abc.com stop you from visiting xyz.com instead?
- bagacrap 7y ago
  GP claims there is healthy competition, eg ddg. Therefore I guess by your claim that monopoly blocks competition, there's no monopoly, unless you want to claim DDG actually sucks, which would be an unpopular stance to stake here on hn.
  - Apocryphon 7y ago
    The claim could perhaps be rephrased as stating there is no (substantial) competition. For instance, Sailfish OS is technically a competitor to iOS/Android, but it is by no means one with any considerable market share.
- uncle_j 7y ago
  Yes it is. Internet Explorer had something like 95%+ share on all browsing traffic and then someone brought out a better alternatives (Firefox and at the time Chrome). Internet Explorer is no longer dominate. It is now dead.
  - paxys 7y ago
    Using Microsoft as an example to argue that monopolies aren't bad shows you are either very young or were not paying too much attention in the 90s. The reason Chrome even exists today is because the US & EU governments forced Microsoft to support other software and companies better.
    - uncle_j 7y ago
      I do remember exactly what happened back then and what you state couldn't be further from the truth. > The reason Chrome even exists today is because the US & EU governments forced Microsoft to support other software and companies better. Chrome came well after Firefox (2008 versus 2002). Many people were fed up with IE due to poor security and performance and were evangelising Firefox online. > Mozilla has produced its own browser, called Firefox, that is enjoying a surge in popularity as increasing numbers of people and organisations tire of the security problems that plague Microsoft's Internet Explorer. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3680942.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3680942.stm You could always install your own browser on Windows. There was nothing ever stopping you from downloading another browser and running it on Windows (in fact Opera at the time IIRC was doing well in Germany). Firefox was simply better than IE and people started using it.
      - Apocryphon 7y ago
        > There was nothing ever stopping you from downloading another browser and running it on Windows https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21621329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21621329 Many more stories if you look for "Microsoft Chrome" on HN.
        uncle_j 7y ago
        This was completely irrelevant to the time frame. People started changing browser 5 years earlier because Firefox was better than IE (in terms of security). People changed from Firefox to Chrome because performance in Firefox 3.6 was horrendous (browser tended to lock up) and Google Chrome was again better at the time.

paxys 7y ago

Competition is not the answer to monopoly, since it the monopoly status which is preventing competition in the first place. This is why antitrust laws exist.

pb7 7y ago
Can anything on the internet really be a monopoly? Can abc.com stop you from visiting xyz.com instead?
bagacrap 7y ago
GP claims there is healthy competition, eg ddg. Therefore I guess by your claim that monopoly blocks competition, there's no monopoly, unless you want to claim DDG actually sucks, which would be an unpopular stance to stake here on hn.
- Apocryphon 7y ago
  The claim could perhaps be rephrased as stating there is no (substantial) competition. For instance, Sailfish OS is technically a competitor to iOS/Android, but it is by no means one with any considerable market share.
uncle_j 7y ago
Yes it is. Internet Explorer had something like 95%+ share on all browsing traffic and then someone brought out a better alternatives (Firefox and at the time Chrome). Internet Explorer is no longer dominate. It is now dead.
- paxys 7y ago
  Using Microsoft as an example to argue that monopolies aren't bad shows you are either very young or were not paying too much attention in the 90s. The reason Chrome even exists today is because the US & EU governments forced Microsoft to support other software and companies better.
  - uncle_j 7y ago
    I do remember exactly what happened back then and what you state couldn't be further from the truth. > The reason Chrome even exists today is because the US & EU governments forced Microsoft to support other software and companies better. Chrome came well after Firefox (2008 versus 2002). Many people were fed up with IE due to poor security and performance and were evangelising Firefox online. > Mozilla has produced its own browser, called Firefox, that is enjoying a surge in popularity as increasing numbers of people and organisations tire of the security problems that plague Microsoft's Internet Explorer. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3680942.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3680942.stm You could always install your own browser on Windows. There was nothing ever stopping you from downloading another browser and running it on Windows (in fact Opera at the time IIRC was doing well in Germany). Firefox was simply better than IE and people started using it.
    - Apocryphon 7y ago
      > There was nothing ever stopping you from downloading another browser and running it on Windows https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21621329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21621329 Many more stories if you look for "Microsoft Chrome" on HN.
      - uncle_j 7y ago
        This was completely irrelevant to the time frame. People started changing browser 5 years earlier because Firefox was better than IE (in terms of security). People changed from Firefox to Chrome because performance in Firefox 3.6 was horrendous (browser tended to lock up) and Google Chrome was again better at the time.