4 ms·

Agreed. Profit is fine, monopolies are not. It's not a hard line to draw.

cinntaile 5y ago
Well seeing as there is little to no consensus on whether certain tech companies have a monopoly or not... I'd say it's a hard line to draw.
- bee_rider 5y ago
  I think this is just because we misuse the word monopoly. Monopolies in tech are pretty rare I think, especially things like online services -- it is pretty hard to completely dominate a market when there are other big tech companies out there and they all dabble in everything. However, tech companies engage in anti-competitive behavior all the time. Unfortunately people want to say "monopoly" when they see anti-competitive behavior, because it sounds cooler. This is quite unfortunate because it leads to the whole "technically not a monopoly" debate, which really misses the point.
  - account42 5y ago
    There is never any 100% monopoly in other sectors either unless it's something government enforced where only one company is allowed to do something. What matters is that a significant amount of consumers do not have a choice of dealing with with the company in question if they want certain types of things. That is true in tech if you define the "type of thing" narrowly enough and is true nowhere if you define it broadly enough. The debate of where you draw the line is independt of the terms used.
marcus_holmes 5y ago
OK, but Steam has a near-monopoly on games, Spotify has a near-monopoly on music, and both of these are working great for me as a consumer. Netflix had a monopoly, but now not, and it's shit. I have to work out what platform a show is currently streaming on, and decide whether it's worth paying for that to see the show, and the lineups are constantly changing. Honestly, going back to piracy for video is looking good right now. The GP's statement "piracy is a service problem" is so true. And, unfortunately, to provide the kind of service we want, that means a single platform. I'm utterly uninterested in a world where I have to remember which platform that game was on. I refuse to buy games if they require Origin (or an Xbox account, or in fact creation of an account anywhere). I realise that at some point Steam is probably going to become evil and take advantage of its monopoly position. I hope we can persuade it to stay honest when that time draws near. I don't see any other option - I wouldn't want the government (which government? I live in Germany) controlling the platform either.
- skinkestek 5y ago
  > OK, but Steam has a near-monopoly on games, Playstation, XBox and Nintendo all want a word with you first. After that Fortnite and PUBG developers are waiting. > Spotify has a near-monopoly on music, ITunes wants a word with you too it seems. > and both of these are working great for me as a consumer. Good. That is because both Valve and Spotify know how vulnerable they are. > Netflix had a monopoly, but now not, and it's shit. Unlike Spotify they weren't humble. They abused customers by enforcing the dumb rules of the film industry. I'd almost say good riddance to them but it's not in me to enjoy others misfortune.
  - cinntaile 5y ago
    I think he means Steam on PC.
    - skinkestek 5y ago
      It is still wrong. Gog, Microsoft, probably Funcom and a number of others (I'm not into gaming, I'm just pointing out he was extremely wrong, so wrong even I could see it. Or there is some missing context that I failed to see despite trying twice now in which case a clarification might be needed.) Edit: Blizzard and Activision publishes outside of Steam (too)? (I don't know if the publish on Steam.)
      - cinntaile 5y ago
        Well they have all tried breaking Steam's dominance on PC. The ones that come closest are probably Microsoft (especially with their acquisition of Activision Blizzard) and Epic. Almost all of them still publish on Steam, because they basically have to. Gog and Funcom are drops in the ocean in comparison.
- bee_rider 5y ago
  The music streaming market seems pretty competitive, Spotify is on top but they appear to only be in the 30% range. https://www.statista.com/statistics/653926/music-streaming-service-subscriber-share/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/653926/music-streaming-s...

Well seeing as there is little to no consensus on whether certain tech companies have a monopoly or not... I'd say it's a hard line to draw.

bee_rider 5y ago
I think this is just because we misuse the word monopoly. Monopolies in tech are pretty rare I think, especially things like online services -- it is pretty hard to completely dominate a market when there are other big tech companies out there and they all dabble in everything. However, tech companies engage in anti-competitive behavior all the time. Unfortunately people want to say "monopoly" when they see anti-competitive behavior, because it sounds cooler. This is quite unfortunate because it leads to the whole "technically not a monopoly" debate, which really misses the point.
- account42 5y ago
  There is never any 100% monopoly in other sectors either unless it's something government enforced where only one company is allowed to do something. What matters is that a significant amount of consumers do not have a choice of dealing with with the company in question if they want certain types of things. That is true in tech if you define the "type of thing" narrowly enough and is true nowhere if you define it broadly enough. The debate of where you draw the line is independt of the terms used.

marcus_holmes 5y ago

OK, but Steam has a near-monopoly on games, Spotify has a near-monopoly on music, and both of these are working great for me as a consumer. Netflix had a monopoly, but now not, and it's shit. I have to work out what platform a show is currently streaming on, and decide whether it's worth paying for that to see the show, and the lineups are constantly changing. Honestly, going back to piracy for video is looking good right now. The GP's statement "piracy is a service problem" is so true. And, unfortunately, to provide the kind of service we want, that means a single platform. I'm utterly uninterested in a world where I have to remember which platform that game was on. I refuse to buy games if they require Origin (or an Xbox account, or in fact creation of an account anywhere). I realise that at some point Steam is probably going to become evil and take advantage of its monopoly position. I hope we can persuade it to stay honest when that time draws near. I don't see any other option - I wouldn't want the government (which government? I live in Germany) controlling the platform either.

skinkestek 5y ago
> OK, but Steam has a near-monopoly on games, Playstation, XBox and Nintendo all want a word with you first. After that Fortnite and PUBG developers are waiting. > Spotify has a near-monopoly on music, ITunes wants a word with you too it seems. > and both of these are working great for me as a consumer. Good. That is because both Valve and Spotify know how vulnerable they are. > Netflix had a monopoly, but now not, and it's shit. Unlike Spotify they weren't humble. They abused customers by enforcing the dumb rules of the film industry. I'd almost say good riddance to them but it's not in me to enjoy others misfortune.
- cinntaile 5y ago
  I think he means Steam on PC.
  - skinkestek 5y ago
    It is still wrong. Gog, Microsoft, probably Funcom and a number of others (I'm not into gaming, I'm just pointing out he was extremely wrong, so wrong even I could see it. Or there is some missing context that I failed to see despite trying twice now in which case a clarification might be needed.) Edit: Blizzard and Activision publishes outside of Steam (too)? (I don't know if the publish on Steam.)
    - cinntaile 5y ago
      Well they have all tried breaking Steam's dominance on PC. The ones that come closest are probably Microsoft (especially with their acquisition of Activision Blizzard) and Epic. Almost all of them still publish on Steam, because they basically have to. Gog and Funcom are drops in the ocean in comparison.
bee_rider 5y ago
The music streaming market seems pretty competitive, Spotify is on top but they appear to only be in the 30% range. https://www.statista.com/statistics/653926/music-streaming-service-subscriber-share/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/653926/music-streaming-s...