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The UK keeps trying to throw their weight around only to find out they aren’t that big. The CMA with Xbox and now this. They aren’t large enough for Apple and M

The UK keeps trying to throw their weight around only to find out they aren’t that big. The CMA with Xbox and now this. They aren’t large enough for Apple and Microsoft to make massive changes just to accommodate a relatively small market.

ben_w 3y ago
The UK has been discovering and forgetting that lesson repeatedly since at least the Suez crisis if not earlier.
acuozzo 3y ago
> The UK keeps trying to throw their weight around only to find out they aren’t that big. Their (former) empire is a part of their cultural identity. It's going to take a few more generations to shed the expectations of what was. The days of two washed-up subjects of the crown taking Kafiristan all on their lonesome are dead and gone.
- r00fus 3y ago
  I think it'll die in this generation itself. The UK with Brexit are starting to find out very quickly how insignificant their nation is and how easy it is to route around the oversized egos of their so-called leaders.
  - urbandw311er 3y ago
    British citizen here. I didn’t vote for Brexit. But would you mind perhaps not insulting my country?
    - jamil7 3y ago
      I can't tell if this is satire. There isn't anything insulting about saying a country is insignificant (my home country definitely is).
    - r00fus 3y ago
      Most governments deserve a good helping of scorn including my own, despite our best efforts to persuade them otherwise. I find most people in the UK quite agreeable. I recommend not taking criticism against your government personally.
  - raxxorraxor 3y ago
    The ambitions of the EU to weaken encryption aren't different to that of the UK. So that isn't a relevant factor at all.
- urbandw311er 3y ago
  While I’m glad the rather embarrassing empire thing is on the wane I really don’t see how that is relevant here. The UK isn’t trying to tell anybody what they can do in any other country. It’s just laying down the law for what happens within its own borders which it’s entirely within its rights to do. Equally why you would think an American company could or should tell the British government what to do is surely itself an example of empiricism is it not?
  - etempleton 3y ago
    It is not that the UK can’t set the rules for their own country; it is just that they need Microsoft and Apple more than Microsoft and Apple need them and so the government has little leverage here. Further, they aren’t large enough to block the deal so they will only make things worse for their own citizens as it will just deny citizen access to certain products and services or create or otherwise cause companies pull out of the market causing businesses and citizens to look for sun par alternatives. Apple and Microsoft can’t tell the UK government what to to, but the power dynamic is still what it is and the reality of what blocking the deal will actually accomplish is still the reality.
Aachen 3y ago
Inversely, is the UK so much worse off for not having a few games in their market? Neither is so big it can go without the other, not only the UK.
- gretch 3y ago
  Individually no, but in aggregate... A few games here, iMessage, Facetime, Whatsapp maybe, some other internet products, etc Does it boast something else to make up for the loss of these things? Trading something for nothing always feels kinda bad. And if the trade is "We stood up for the right thing with respect to Cloud Gaming monopolization", you constituents might be kinda pissed after a while. You know the old adage "Bread and Circus". Well you gotta make sure the circus is running well.
  - blibble 3y ago
    in reality another large company will enter the void where apple was with the correct regulatory approval and take the entire market
    - zymhan 3y ago
      The market is far less lucrative without the network effects of iMessage and WhatsApp
  - nonethewiser 3y ago
    The question is this: is the law good in principle? Meaning is the law good regardless of what Apple decides to do? Or is it only good if it forces Apple to break encryption? I think the answer is obvious. Its not a principled law. Its just a threat. They wouldn’t rather lose access to facetime and iMessages than have access to them but encrypted. Thats just crippling themselves.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - ben_w 3y ago

ben_w 3y ago

The UK has been discovering and forgetting that lesson repeatedly since at least the Suez crisis if not earlier.

acuozzo 3y ago

> The UK keeps trying to throw their weight around only to find out they aren’t that big. Their (former) empire is a part of their cultural identity. It's going to take a few more generations to shed the expectations of what was. The days of two washed-up subjects of the crown taking Kafiristan all on their lonesome are dead and gone.

r00fus 3y ago
I think it'll die in this generation itself. The UK with Brexit are starting to find out very quickly how insignificant their nation is and how easy it is to route around the oversized egos of their so-called leaders.
- urbandw311er 3y ago
  British citizen here. I didn’t vote for Brexit. But would you mind perhaps not insulting my country?
  - jamil7 3y ago
    I can't tell if this is satire. There isn't anything insulting about saying a country is insignificant (my home country definitely is).
  - r00fus 3y ago
    Most governments deserve a good helping of scorn including my own, despite our best efforts to persuade them otherwise. I find most people in the UK quite agreeable. I recommend not taking criticism against your government personally.
- raxxorraxor 3y ago
  The ambitions of the EU to weaken encryption aren't different to that of the UK. So that isn't a relevant factor at all.
urbandw311er 3y ago
While I’m glad the rather embarrassing empire thing is on the wane I really don’t see how that is relevant here. The UK isn’t trying to tell anybody what they can do in any other country. It’s just laying down the law for what happens within its own borders which it’s entirely within its rights to do. Equally why you would think an American company could or should tell the British government what to do is surely itself an example of empiricism is it not?
- etempleton 3y ago
  It is not that the UK can’t set the rules for their own country; it is just that they need Microsoft and Apple more than Microsoft and Apple need them and so the government has little leverage here. Further, they aren’t large enough to block the deal so they will only make things worse for their own citizens as it will just deny citizen access to certain products and services or create or otherwise cause companies pull out of the market causing businesses and citizens to look for sun par alternatives. Apple and Microsoft can’t tell the UK government what to to, but the power dynamic is still what it is and the reality of what blocking the deal will actually accomplish is still the reality.

Aachen 3y ago

Inversely, is the UK so much worse off for not having a few games in their market? Neither is so big it can go without the other, not only the UK.

gretch 3y ago
Individually no, but in aggregate... A few games here, iMessage, Facetime, Whatsapp maybe, some other internet products, etc Does it boast something else to make up for the loss of these things? Trading something for nothing always feels kinda bad. And if the trade is "We stood up for the right thing with respect to Cloud Gaming monopolization", you constituents might be kinda pissed after a while. You know the old adage "Bread and Circus". Well you gotta make sure the circus is running well.
- blibble 3y ago
  in reality another large company will enter the void where apple was with the correct regulatory approval and take the entire market
  - zymhan 3y ago
    The market is far less lucrative without the network effects of iMessage and WhatsApp
- nonethewiser 3y ago
  The question is this: is the law good in principle? Meaning is the law good regardless of what Apple decides to do? Or is it only good if it forces Apple to break encryption? I think the answer is obvious. Its not a principled law. Its just a threat. They wouldn’t rather lose access to facetime and iMessages than have access to them but encrypted. Thats just crippling themselves.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - ben_w 3y ago