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It might be hard to imagine in a world where open source mostly won, but in the 90s Microsoft essentially had a de facto monopoly over the computer industry. M
by gnfargbl 3y ago
It might be hard to imagine in a world where open source mostly won, but in the 90s Microsoft essentially had a de facto monopoly over the computer industry.
Mac OS was a thing, but it was different and expensive enough that it was not really a viable alternative to Windows 95 for most people. Solaris and HPUX existed, but were not accessible to home users. The alternative platforms of the late 80s (Atari, Amiga, Acorn) had pretty much died out by the mid 90s. Linux was very much a thing, but without a viable web browser it was really tricky to use on a day to day basis... and the only really viable web browser was Internet Explorer, so you ended up dual booting to Windows. If you (I) wanted to use a computer, that's how it was.
In short, the kind of monopoly that Apple has with its App Stores affects some consumers in some ways, but the kind of monopoly that Microsoft had in the 90s affected almost every computer user in almost every way.
- Agingcoder 3y agoAt the end of the 90s, the internet was also not everywhere. Many people had 56k modems, smartphones did not exist ( and mobile phones weren’t exactly ubiquitous) so there was no way out, ie your apps were tied to your operating system, which meant windows to most people.
- scarface_74 3y agoApple is a “monopoly” in the EU with less than 40% market share?
- gnfargbl 3y agoHow do you believe Apple's overall market share is related to the (pre-DMA) monopolistic nature of their App Stores? I can't see a clear connection between the two things.
- JustExAWS 3y agoSo Apples overall market share in the EU is less than 40%…
- ben_w 3y agoA monopoly can be so many things that the question needs to be "is it causing harm?" For example, a trademark or a copyright or a patent is a monopoly on the use of that IP, and those are considered "good" by the governments and courts. In my (IANAL) opinion, I think the important question for a mobile app store needs to be: do users and developers have a meaningful choice between iOS, Android, and just a website? I really don't know the answer to that, though I expect the market share plays a part in it — if iOS was 10% or 90%, then developers surely would not have any meaningful choice.
- JustExAWS 3y agoThere was a lawyer and a judge in the Epic case that in fact did rule that Apple wasn’t a monopoly…
- ben_w 3y agoAnd now they've had a different court which, assuming antitrust and monopoly are the same concept, says they are. As I'm not a lawyer, my understanding of their arguments is going to be strictly worse than ChatGPT's, and I know it.
- JustExAWS 3y agoWell the EU is not exactly known for well thought out jurisprudence or legislation when it comes to tech.
- whostolemyhat 3y agoCould you give any examples? I'd say GDPR was an incredibly well-thought-out bit of legislation
- JustExAWS 3y agoYou mean all 99 sections and 11 chapters? And all we got was cookie banners And it didn’t affect the big guys. It just made compliance harder for the little guys https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33561222 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33561222 It’s a regulatory nightmare for smaller companies. Apple’s Ad Tracking Transparency did more to affect privacy - according to companies like Facebook that admitted on earnings calls that they projected billions in losses based on iOS users opting out All of the AI regulations are just going to make companies say - forget it in the EU. How much longer did open AI take to come to the EU as opposed to the US?