16 ms·
Microsoft files monopoly complaint against Google
- jleyank 16y agoPot. Kettle. Black.
- wheaties 16y agoGive me a break, if I want to go search I have any choice I want. There is nothing stopping me from using Google, Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go or any other service. That's the beauty of the web, it's open.
- rbanffy 16y agoMinor nitpick: I think Yahoo has been using Bing search instead of its own.
- dhimes 16y agoYou should read the article. That's not what they are complaining about- in fact, they acknowledge this directly. EDIT relevant snippet: On PCs it is usually not difficult for people to navigate to any search engine. Google in fact makes this point virtually every time someone raises antitrust concerns about their practices. Their defense ignores the hugely important fact that there are many other important ways that search services compete. Search engines compete to index the Web as fully as possible so they can generate good search results, they compete to gain advertisers (the source of revenue in this business), and they compete to gain distribution of their search boxes through Web sites. Consumers will not benefit from clicking to alternative sites unless all search engines have a fair opportunity to compete in each of these areas.
- bad_user 16y agoTL;DR -- Advertisers/websites want users, Google has users, and we don't know how the fuck to compete with that other than playing dirty. Oh Microsoft, how I'd like for you to become even more irrelevant than you already are.
- rbarooah 16y agoDR is correct. The actual accusation is that YouTube only allows Google to properly index their videos, giving Google Search an unfair advantage. Consumers won't switch to a search engine that can't index everything they want, and Bing can't index YouTube properly if Google won't let them.
- tomjen3 16y ago>Consumers will not benefit from clicking to alternative sites unless all search engines have a fair opportunity to compete in each of these areas Consumers will not benefit at all, since these companies can't index as large a portion of the web as Google could alone.
- jameskilton 16y agoFull complaint: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2011/03/30/adding-our-voice-to-concerns-about-search-in-europe.aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2... There may be some legitimate claims here -- plenty of mention of where the DOJ has already stopped some anti-competitive behaviour from Google -- but overall it just screams "Google is KILLING us, we can't compete, so obviously there's a monopoly here, so lets legislate instead of innovate."
- rick888 16y agoFunny how the tune has changed. If this was Microsoft 10+ years ago, everyone would scream Monopoly and want the problem legislated away. Now that it involves Google, a "cool" company that can "do no harm", it's fine.
- pyre 16y ago10+ years ago Microsoft seemed the unbeatable behemoth. Google may be a behemoth today, but I don't think that people are under the impression that they are unbeatable.
- timmyd 16y agoCan understand the anti-MSFT crowd here but after being smashed so many times for anti-competitiveness [rightly, I might add] - but equally I can appreciate the "mix" of feelings MSFT have. Bing is not even a blimp on Googles radar in Europe and in turn this adversely affects all other MSFT offerings [email, search, advertising, business apps etc etc]. MSFT were slammed for locking in IE as part of the OS and basically every Google App I use now shoves the "Use Google Chrome instead" in my face at some point. Google is now practically the 1eading search engine, leading email, leading advertising, leading online apps programs, leading new browser --> and it just keeps adding up. They all work synergistically together and in turn they all reduce competition for other players to some degree. Screaming hypocrisy from MSFT ? You bet. Justified ? Perhaps - they'd be the best to know because they've been sued more times than anyone. I love Google, use all their products because they are the best - but as 100's of articles on HN have illustrated --> Bing is JUST as good as Google, arguably the search results are not that much different --> everyone uses Google because it's where EVERYTHING you use is located and Bing doesn't offer anything "better" than Google - so why change ? This "lax" attitude is exactly what creates monopolies and exactly what stifles competition. If Google have 99% of the search market - nothing is "pushing them" to innovate. Maybe I would use Bing more if Hotmail didn't suck ? But the question is not always pointed towards what "technology buffs" are looking to use because the organic nature of being a techy is that you'll understand the differences. Question is then - what do Mums, Dads and non-techies use and is this fueling anti-competitive behavior ? How are data practices maintained and what is Google doing with the enormous amount of data it gathers ? Relevant questions. Important ones and while I find it unbelievably ironic that MSFT is doing this - I'm glad someone is holding Google "accountable" because left unchecked - it's MSFT all over again.
- rouli 16y agoApril fools came early this year?
- yanw 16y agoThat's obviously an April fool's hoax. I mean Microsoft is bigger and richer than Google, they practically own the desktop OS and enterprise software markets, they won't accuse anyone of anti-trust because they aren't dominating search as well, would they?!
- RP_Joe 16y agoApril fools joke. But nobody can see it because I have a negative score.
- loudmax 16y agoGood thing typical small businesses don't rely on software and documents that can only be rendered correctly by Microsoft products anymore. Cuz if that were the case, this suit would be extreme hypocrisy. Sarcasm aside, this doesn't necessarily invalidate the premises of the argument. Even so, I don't see that current Google offerings have anywhere near the lock-in of Microsoft products.
- gavanwoolery 16y agoIn other news, Pot calls Kettle "black." More at 11.
- cryptoz 16y ago> Secondly he accused Google of blocking Windows Mobile phones from working properly with YouTube. Hah! I'd love to hear more details about this. Isn't it up to Microsoft to add fucking HTML5 or Flash support to their phones? How is Google doing anything but providing videos and Microsoft refusing to write code that reads those videos? This is the dumbest complaint ever, unless there are some details we're missing...I'm curious. This is just too much, it can't be real.
- ghurlman 16y agoSeeing as how every YouTube video I've tried to play in a Windows Phone has worked, I fail to see what the issue is at all. Clearly details are missing.
- rbanffy 16y agoThey are talking about video metadata. I really can't see what the problem is. Does Google have a private API they use for Android phones? Did Apple pay for it so that YouTube is featured on iPhones. Does Microsoft want this data for free?
- rbarooah 16y agoThe problem is that that by acquiring large stores of content (e.g. Video, Books) and stopping other search engines from to indexing them properly, they are giving Google Search an unfair advantage. If they aren't stopped from doing this they'll repeat the process for one content type after another, and the so-called search engine competition that keeps them honest will be killed completely.
- rbanffy 16y agoMicrosoft can't complain YouTube is the only game in town - they discontinued their Soap Box thingie. Besides that, YouTube is not the only video hosting provider - There are Vimeo, blib.tv and a host of others. Also, Google scans that books and bears the cost of the scanning. Why would they give this data to Microsoft for free? If Microsoft wants to scan their own books or provide a video hosting platform, they are free to do so, but I don't see why Google has an obligation to provide them these services.
- latch 16y agoI heard Microsoft is going to reimburse its engineers who decide to pursue a law degree as it aligns with their internal strategy to have more lawyers than coders by 2015.
- quattrofan 16y agoMaybe Brad could tell me why I can't install IE9 on my Windows XP netbook and need to upgrade to Win7? I thought the OS had been decoupled due to Microsoft's OS monopoly. Perhaps I should ask Google.
- skrish 16y agoThat is a good one. May be all XP users should file complaint against MS for giving software that is NOT backward compatible and ask for free upgrade to whatever platform that supports their latest and greatest upgrades.
- rbarooah 16y agoThe complaint is that Google has a conflict of interest as it becomes a content provider as well as a search engine, and that it is exploiting this. For other content providers, more search engines indexing their stuff, means more traffic. There is only upside to letting more search engines in. For Google, hobbling other search engines indexing their content is a great way to keep their search engine on top. It's a virtuous circle for them. In a way it's hard to see how they aren't privileging Google search in some way. Does Google Search use a public API to scrape YouTube, or is there some backend integration? If there's integration, doesn't that support Microsoft's claim?
- wdr1 16y agoI just saw a TV ad for a Windows 7 phone last night that heavily touted integration with Xbox Live. Much in the spirit of Bing & Youtube, I wonder if other mobile devices will be able to integrate just as easily w/ Xbox Live?
- jjcm 16y agoIt seems like there's a lot of people commenting here who haven't read the article in full. Some key points of it are that Microsoft isn't filing against Google Search - rather they are complaining that Google is providing meta data to other companies (apple) and are crippling Microsoft's access to it. As a result, Microsoft's Windows Phone and other devices can't build an integrated youtube app on their phone. They claim that Google is doing this because Microsoft is a search competitor. In addition, they are filing numerous complaints against Google's ad networks, and their attempt to have unfettered and exclusive access to orphaned books. Right now, it seems like Microsoft may have a leg to stand on in regards to the youtube metadata control. I'll await google's response to this though before I choose sides, and I'd recommend others wait as well.
- Ainab 16y agoI bet Google will allow access to even their search index if Microsoft starts blocking all their applications in OS level.
- kbutler 16y agoI've long been against Microsoft's practices, but from what I can tell, they are clearly in the right on this: Google is using it's market power to restrict competition in various ways. This anti-competitive behavior should be stopped, regardless of the irony. It doesn't matter if it's Google, Microsoft, Apple, the NFL, AT&T, IBM, U.S. sugar producers, or a company you haven't heard of yet - if one or more companies are leveraging market power to enter new markets or limit competition in their market, they should be stopped.
- tobylane 16y agoIs it really that hard to parse Youtube? These are the guys who made an operat.. I can't say it. I can't say Microsoft actually ever made an operating system. The one thing I've noticed with them is that they offer good download speeds. To get all the patches quicker.