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Gatekeeper companies whose platforms are all-reaching and all-encompassing (ie. not just toys or games) should be forced to surrender default status to choice.

Gatekeeper companies whose platforms are all-reaching and all-encompassing (ie. not just toys or games) should be forced to surrender default status to choice. Default search, default payments, default messaging, default email, default browser, and default app store shouldn't be first party options thrust on the user. Defaults are something 99 out of 100 users will stick with, making them one of the most powerful forms of platform monopolization. Ending defaults is the only way a competitive gradient can exist. Otherwise, these gatekeeper companies are forever entrenched and can feast off of all economic activity forever. They can furthermore choose to enter tangential markets and snuff out the incumbents.

iamkonstantin 2y ago
Just earlier today, I read this post on Techrunch, of course not only because of Apple, but the size and weight of the FAANGs is just too much even for a free market: > While these companies are definitely benefiting from embracing new trends, there are other factors at play as well — in particular, investors don’t have many places to park their money to make bets on new technology. > “There’s minimal competition as we are in oligopolies and duopolies,” Wang told TechCrunch. “We used to have hundreds of software companies, but decades of mergers and acquisitions have whittled down the options to a few companies in every geography, category, market size, and industry.” https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/29/sap-and-oracle-and-ibm-oh-my-cloud-and-ai-drive-legacy-software-firms-to-record-valuations/ https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/29/sap-and-oracle-and-ibm-oh-...
paulmd 2y ago
> Gatekeeper companies whose platforms are all-reaching and all-encompassing (ie. not just toys or games) stopped reading. You can instantly tell when someone’s being disingenuous when they pull out the “this device has been so successful at branding itself as an appliance that I’m making a special exception for why it shouldn’t have to obey user freedom”. Why shouldn’t I be able to plug a kb into my console and browse the web, or write an email or a word document, or do my taxes? Can science not yet provide an App Store with a web browser in it?
- meiraleal 2y ago
  Why shouldn't I be able to download an app store in the App Store or a web browser with its own engine? Where is my freedom?
- echelon 2y ago
  > You can instantly tell when someone’s being disingenuous I'm being entirely serious, and I write my legislators about it. Apple and Google are unfair monopolies that happened to be at the right place and right time. They now get to lock every single other player out of an entire domain of economic activity. What's more, they get to relentlessly tax all other technological innovations in perpetuity because they're wedged in as the only two options. Have you ever had to pay extortion money to place ads for your own product's name? Have you ever had to schedule unplanned product development to jump through platform changes? Have you ever had your customer relationship severed completely on a whim? You're one decision away from having your business demolished with these two titans. Apple and Google aren't freedom. They're totalitarian dictatorships that tax us into subsistence living and make us dance to the beat of their drum. We are harmed by the fact that they've usurped so much control over technology. The DOJ ought to split them into ten different companies apiece, but absent that, their control over mobile and search should be a liability, not a forever enslavement. Computing should be as competitive as the automotive sector. Smartphones haven't seen advances in half a decade, and yet these companies are forever entitled to the most important device category on the planet. There isn't a way for any other company to come in and compete. It's absolutely impossible. Regulation is the only path.
- talldayo 2y ago
  > Why shouldn’t I be able to plug a kb into my console and browse the web, or write an email or a word document, or do my taxes? Do you want to know the truth? The cold, hard, glaring truth? It's because Night Trap and DOOM existed. The ESRB got made and now nobody can ship games without the direct and glaring oversight of an entertainment commission. It sounds stupid because it is, but it also has bipartisan support so everyone can say "think of the kids!" and stop 17-year-olds from renting GTA for their PS2. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony love this. These are regulations they can exploit, because they more or less give them a legal imperative to root out bad actors and create the sort of walled garden Apple struggles to justify. Does it make sense? No. You should be able to legally unlock your Nintendo Switch bootloader, Nintendo be damned. But Nintendo is perceived to exist in regulated competition with their peers; Apple is running a free-for-all where everyone but them loses.

iamkonstantin 2y ago

Just earlier today, I read this post on Techrunch, of course not only because of Apple, but the size and weight of the FAANGs is just too much even for a free market: > While these companies are definitely benefiting from embracing new trends, there are other factors at play as well — in particular, investors don’t have many places to park their money to make bets on new technology. > “There’s minimal competition as we are in oligopolies and duopolies,” Wang told TechCrunch. “We used to have hundreds of software companies, but decades of mergers and acquisitions have whittled down the options to a few companies in every geography, category, market size, and industry.” https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/29/sap-and-oracle-and-ibm-oh-my-cloud-and-ai-drive-legacy-software-firms-to-record-valuations/ https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/29/sap-and-oracle-and-ibm-oh-...

paulmd 2y ago

> Gatekeeper companies whose platforms are all-reaching and all-encompassing (ie. not just toys or games) stopped reading. You can instantly tell when someone’s being disingenuous when they pull out the “this device has been so successful at branding itself as an appliance that I’m making a special exception for why it shouldn’t have to obey user freedom”. Why shouldn’t I be able to plug a kb into my console and browse the web, or write an email or a word document, or do my taxes? Can science not yet provide an App Store with a web browser in it?

meiraleal 2y ago
Why shouldn't I be able to download an app store in the App Store or a web browser with its own engine? Where is my freedom?
echelon 2y ago
> You can instantly tell when someone’s being disingenuous I'm being entirely serious, and I write my legislators about it. Apple and Google are unfair monopolies that happened to be at the right place and right time. They now get to lock every single other player out of an entire domain of economic activity. What's more, they get to relentlessly tax all other technological innovations in perpetuity because they're wedged in as the only two options. Have you ever had to pay extortion money to place ads for your own product's name? Have you ever had to schedule unplanned product development to jump through platform changes? Have you ever had your customer relationship severed completely on a whim? You're one decision away from having your business demolished with these two titans. Apple and Google aren't freedom. They're totalitarian dictatorships that tax us into subsistence living and make us dance to the beat of their drum. We are harmed by the fact that they've usurped so much control over technology. The DOJ ought to split them into ten different companies apiece, but absent that, their control over mobile and search should be a liability, not a forever enslavement. Computing should be as competitive as the automotive sector. Smartphones haven't seen advances in half a decade, and yet these companies are forever entitled to the most important device category on the planet. There isn't a way for any other company to come in and compete. It's absolutely impossible. Regulation is the only path.
talldayo 2y ago
> Why shouldn’t I be able to plug a kb into my console and browse the web, or write an email or a word document, or do my taxes? Do you want to know the truth? The cold, hard, glaring truth? It's because Night Trap and DOOM existed. The ESRB got made and now nobody can ship games without the direct and glaring oversight of an entertainment commission. It sounds stupid because it is, but it also has bipartisan support so everyone can say "think of the kids!" and stop 17-year-olds from renting GTA for their PS2. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony love this. These are regulations they can exploit, because they more or less give them a legal imperative to root out bad actors and create the sort of walled garden Apple struggles to justify. Does it make sense? No. You should be able to legally unlock your Nintendo Switch bootloader, Nintendo be damned. But Nintendo is perceived to exist in regulated competition with their peers; Apple is running a free-for-all where everyone but them loses.