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Chrome is probably the best example. I don't really know how people would expect that to be a company or even a division under Alphabet. It's rather unfortunate

Chrome is probably the best example. I don't really know how people would expect that to be a company or even a division under Alphabet. It's rather unfortunate, because I don't think Google can be trusted to build a browser anymore. Android is also a weird case. All funding is coming from Google, but the revenue isn't coming from licensing of the OS. Separating out Android and require manufacturers to pay a license wouldn't kill it at this point, but it could fragment the Android market. Like with Chrome, Google isn't the best steward, because their interests are primarily data mining and advertising, but building the best mobile operating system. DoubleClick, analytics, Youtube and search are the divisions I'd go for if I where a regulator, but there where would Chrome and Android go?

qwytw 3y ago
> require manufacturers to pay a license wouldn't kill it at this point They'd only have to pay for Google services like the Play Store. However half of them would now belong to a different company and I don't know if the Play Store would be self sustainable on it's own? Samsung already has their own store, smaller ones will probably still stock to the Play Store for the time but increased fragmentation would be unavoidable.. That might not be a bad thing on its own, however I don't see how/why anyone would continue funding the development of the open-source bits of Android to a degree Google is capable now.
detourdog 3y ago
They forked the browser to grab data for the advertising engine. If all they wanted was high quality browser imagine what Apple and Google could have done if google hadn't forked webkit.