> Splitting Google up, forcing this infrastructure to become open, etc would be much healthier than perpetually killing small products to protect Google's secre

> Splitting Google up, forcing this infrastructure to become open, etc would be much healthier than perpetually killing small products to protect Google's secret sauce. I totally agree! But this assumes that what Google wants to do is healthy. What Google actually does is try to make more profit. A majority of choices made are guided by this one law: to accumulate as much capital as possible (after all, we live in a capitalist system). This law is similar to other physical laws that govern our physical system e.g. "current likes to flow in the path of least resistance." In a capitalist system, the mode of production is fueled by profit. Companies that aren't profitable or can't compete with larger companies cease to exist or get eaten up by larger corps. In turn, the wealth of these smaller companies get sucked into the larger companies, and they keep subsuming more and more. It's the natural tendency of the system. It's not like these companies really have a choice in the matter.. they're just operating within the confines and laws of the system. In order to slow this tendency, an outside force must act on the system.