4 ms·

The thing that landed Google in hot water was that they licensed Android to multiple vendors and then used anticompetitive shenanigans to control the marketplac

The thing that landed Google in hot water was that they licensed Android to multiple vendors and then used anticompetitive shenanigans to control the marketplace. Look at XBox and Windows at Microsoft. XBox is a walled garden and you can't create a game for it without Microsoft's permission and giving Microsoft a cut. There have been zero legal repercussions for this. Windows is licensed to multiple vendors and Microsoft has faced antitrust actions many times in many jurisdictions for their anticompetitive actions related to Windows over the years.

StressedDev 3y ago
Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo sometimes lose money on hardware sales. Operating system venders never lose money on software sales because software costs nothing to reproduce (they can still lose money but the loses do not increase as sales increase). I do not know anti-trust law but I think the difference in business models should be acknowledged.
- dagmx 3y ago
  Software costs money to develop, and is largely given away for free as a loss leader in today’s market. I know you’re probably trying to focus specifically on cost to provide the software and not the cost before that (which I’d argue is flawed) but you’re also then missing out on the support cost etc… from there on out.
- nolok 3y ago
  > Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo sometimes lose money on hardware sales. Nintendo has never sold a console at a loss, Sony hasn't done it since the PS3 in 2006 and Microsoft since the 360. So it's not the norm since more than a decade.
  - morelisp 3y ago
    Maybe you're playing a semantic game with "console", but both the 3DS and Wii U were initially sold at a loss. I think the Wii U may have always been sold at a loss. (Edit: Apparently only the the first three years, though I guess it's questionable the degree to which it sold at all after that.)

StressedDev 3y ago

Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo sometimes lose money on hardware sales. Operating system venders never lose money on software sales because software costs nothing to reproduce (they can still lose money but the loses do not increase as sales increase). I do not know anti-trust law but I think the difference in business models should be acknowledged.

dagmx 3y ago
Software costs money to develop, and is largely given away for free as a loss leader in today’s market. I know you’re probably trying to focus specifically on cost to provide the software and not the cost before that (which I’d argue is flawed) but you’re also then missing out on the support cost etc… from there on out.
nolok 3y ago
> Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo sometimes lose money on hardware sales. Nintendo has never sold a console at a loss, Sony hasn't done it since the PS3 in 2006 and Microsoft since the 360. So it's not the norm since more than a decade.
- morelisp 3y ago
  Maybe you're playing a semantic game with "console", but both the 3DS and Wii U were initially sold at a loss. I think the Wii U may have always been sold at a loss. (Edit: Apparently only the the first three years, though I guess it's questionable the degree to which it sold at all after that.)