4 ms·
It is not a problem if a company makes two (or more) separate products. But it is when these products are integrated into each other in ways that aren't open to
by anoncake 6y ago
It is not a problem if a company makes two (or more) separate products. But it is when these products are integrated into each other in ways that aren't open to others, or when there are any kinds of deals where you get a product for free for or at a lower price if you also buy another.
These things discourage customers from mixing products from different companies, thus reducing competition.
Another way to look at it is that there are two ways for a large company to get its software to work well with others: Either it participates in open standards, or it creates its own ecosystem to lock its customers into. The former is better for customers, but companies obviously choose the latter. So we need to take that option away from them.
I don't know if this applies to Google Docs and search. It might have been a bad example.
If a product can't survive on its own, it should die – that is how a market economy works.