I guess some people really believed the "companies are people" nonsense and think of Google as their friend
And it seems some people here believe that for some reason all successful companies are out to get them and need to be broken up immediately.
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European parliament may propose to split Google
- Thread starter ICKE
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And it seems some people here believe that for some reason all successful companies are out to get them and need to be broken up immediately.
captmorgan
Banned
But you are literally saying if you start/run a company don`t get too good. Google didnt do anything illegal they started a search engine and got very popular because they were better than all the other alternatives. Then they offered more products, that were again better than all the other competitors.
This is the government saying "hey you are doing too well as a company, your products are so far superior to everyone else s, that we have to cut you down to size so other possible shitter products might sell a little"
At what point is a company too good that they need to be regulated?
You're not Google's customer though, you're their product, they definitely do charge when they sell ads that target you.
Wiktor
Member
From comissions perspective it's propably easier sell, because Google treats it's users as product it sells
Wiktor
Member
If it helps the market..sure. Especially since it would actually improve their search services
QuicheFontaine
Member
That's what the European parliament says to countries too. The UK economy has been doing well this year, so now we have to pay more.
And would worsen their other services, such as Android. It would be terrible if half the shit that's supposed to come with stock Android was now run by all different companies.
Wiktor
Member
How exactly?
Broder Salsa
Banned
Europeans being jelly. USA USA. *claps*
GoldenEye 007
Member
I know the perils of monopolies. My question is has Google actually engaged in practices that unfairly stifle competition like AT&T or others?
This reads that basically popular companies should be broken up because reasons regardless if they actually have been unfair in their journeys becoming popular and ubitiqous.
Setting prices is mentioned. Given Google Services are largely free, does this introduce companies that charge money, then?
Do you really think all the stuff that comes with Android would work as well if it was all managed by different companies? I sure as hell don't. No, all that shit needs to be unified. Imagine if Android didn't come with basic functions like a web browser or email because they're separate companies now?
That's true, but it's also abstract. You're trying to sell this to the public, and to them Google is a search engine, a web mail service, a cloud save system, a video platform, and a social media network (kind of). All of which are free to use.
To the average person, this whole lawsuit will sound like "Google shouldn't be giving you those things for free when these other companies want to charge you for them!"
Ether_Snake
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I guess Google will nuke Europe now.
Given that they have a monopoly on search doesn't that then give them an anticompetitive advantage against Apple and Microsoft in the mobile business?
Qwell
Member
The problem with this are the examples are used for companies that create real physical goods that have production / shipping costs associated with them in the first place. The internet and a lot of software like search now does not have any of these costs associated with them. And it also takes a single person to create code / programs better than an entire legion of people.
How much money do you or anyone else actually give google in a year? How are they "charging" you too much or making it so its "too expensive" for others to join in and try to compete? Even with huge companies that were thought to have monopolies there is always someone who will eventually come along and dethrone them, sometimes it takes just a few years, and sometimes it doesn't. Just recently it has happened multiple times, hell look at the browser space, even with Microsoft. They spent all that time trying to split Internet Explorer from the Microsoft OS and it was Chrome that dethroned Internet Explorer and it wasn't because of some anti-trust law, it was because it was better.
Blockbuster fell to Netflix, and then Netflix almost fell to some other sources before getting back on top with its streaming services but is now fighting with a whole bunch of competitors who sprung up. Software, search, and just most internet services can be spun up by very small teams, look at Twitter, King, Majong, Instagram. Another recent is Intel, who was crushing AMD and now they are having a heck of time breaking into Mobile which has ARM taking more share of that processor space.
GoldenEye 007
Member
I'd think something like Google Now would become a broken useless mess?
I'll also love logging into 8 different accounts just to get calendars, email, search, and other services talking to each other.
Who the hell doesn't know about iPhones because of Google? Nobody.
I guess some people really believed the "companies are people" nonsense and think of Google as their friend
Its a culture thing, I think.
Wiktor
Member
yes. It\s not like they would be forced to sell their search to different company. At most they would create a sister on that could still cooperate with main google. They could still make the services better by cooperating, they just would have harder time making life more difficult for the competition.
Wiktor
Member
I don't see why any of those would have to happen.
Wouldn't that be the point of breaking up Google? So other companies could compete in the market?
Because that's exactly what breaking Google up would do, honestly.
Walter White Walker
Member
If they have a monopoly on search it's only because that's what people decide to type in their address bar of their own volition. There's nothing stopping people from typing "bing.com" or "gogogoose" (or whatever the hell it's called) instead. It's not like a monopoly on the grapefruit trade or whatever - everyone can freely use any other search engine their little heart desires - and by freely I mean free because they cost nothing because they're all just as free and just as accessible as every other one of them is.
paradise_circus
Member
The request is in preparation for 4 years now. It's nothing shouted too simply in a room full of politicians.
Your Entertainer
Member
Can (or has) somebody posted the Google blog entry on how they proved Bing was ripping off of their search results?
Khaos_Knight
Banned
Yeah it would kill the cohesiveness and inter-connectivity of Google services that make Android so good.
If this split were to happen then all that would remain would be an ecosystem of mediocre entities with sub-mediocre imitations of Google's current services competing with each other with no real progress being made while the consumer is just left standing there with bird shit on their face.
How about instead of trying to topple the big successful guy, this government takes a break from
playing around with their diamond encrusted butt plugs
captmorgan
Banned
Hypothetically lets say Europe did break google up into 3-4 different businesses. If in a few years if all those smaller companies became just as large as google now, would they just keep breaking them up or just try and ban them completely?
They would keep breaking them up. Lol at this event though. I have no ill will against Google, so I am against this idea, many other companies need this before Google tbh. I mainly see this as EU trying to curb U.S tech dominance, since we may be "allies", but we are still competitors at heart.
I think it's just a cash grab. Threaten Google, Google pays a nuisance fee to make it go away, profit.
Then bail out Greece,
not psycho
Member
I don't see the argument for breaking up Google, but maybe there is one.
Comcast, for example, obviously needs to be broken up since they control internet access, cable television access, On Demand, television channels, content creation, all of which are swarming with conflicts of interest and de facto monopolies. For example, their tv properties are a huge conflict against improving internet access, and they can leverage control in one area to stifle competition in another.
But Google seems to be popular just because people use them. They don't have control over their competitors, as far as I can tell. And if you search for yahoo, bing, yahoo video, amazon, etc, they all come up as the 1st result in Google.
Comcast, for example, obviously needs to be broken up since they control internet access, cable television access, On Demand, television channels, content creation, all of which are swarming with conflicts of interest and de facto monopolies. For example, their tv properties are a huge conflict against improving internet access, and they can leverage control in one area to stifle competition in another.
But Google seems to be popular just because people use them. They don't have control over their competitors, as far as I can tell. And if you search for yahoo, bing, yahoo video, amazon, etc, they all come up as the 1st result in Google.
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
Nonsense. As someone who lives in Europe and who works for one of those 'large American corporations that has command over the internet', I find this to be absolutely absurd.
These companies have the power because, well, we make good shit. Europe needs to become competitive. Curbing power is not the way to do so. Step up!
These companies have the power because, well, we make good shit. Europe needs to become competitive. Curbing power is not the way to do so. Step up!
Don't ask me; we won't know until the investigation has been completed. But evidence presented thus far suggests that yes, they have.
Google services are by no means free. Just because you are not the party paying for them, it does not mean another is not.
Also, you seem to have overlooked the text that reads, "a firm with deep pockets can set prices below costs and absorb losses until competitors can no longer survive."
It just isn't feasible to consider building a search engine since nobody can compete with Google. Even if you have the best search engine the world will ever see, it is going to be almost impossible to have at a meaty slice of the pie. This is likely why the climate has not changed an awful lot in the last few years. No matter the present state of Google's services – if there were to be more competition, we would have even better services.
And as history has shown, it takes one single person a fraction of the time to copy it... or even less time to not bother at all. After all, what motivation is there for a monopoly to bother doing anything better? Once you've maxed out how much money you can make, the only way you can make more of it is by cost cutting.
Care to provide some examples of monopolies being dethroned over a period of 3 years? Usually, without intervention, monopolies stick around for an awfully long time. Market disruption is much less likely in an environment where one person's work will go completely under the radar.
You just gave a perfect example of why competition should not exist.
It took Internet Explorer 16 years (!!!) to lose its monopoly, and not without the intervention of international governments and one of the Internet's largest corporations. Since then, the pace at which the web has evolved has been enormous. It is easier than ever for a web developer to build a website today, and new standards are implemented almost daily.
I don't understand why people are against this. It's good for us, guys!
Chrome being advertised on the most popular search engine homepage helped it immensely wouldn't you say?
Kill Your Masters
Member
The EU and US should rather focus on the cable companies and their monopolies on the basic access on the internet first. I can choose not to use google, I cant choose not to get fucked by my internet provider.
perfectchaos007
Member
That way the EU GDP will surpass the US GDP.
The main evidence I've heard about Google engaging in anti-competitive behavior is Google changing their search algorithm and some business losing economic activity because of that. That is hardly an open and shut case of anti-competitive behavior considering that there are myriad of reason Google changes their search algorithm yearly.
this
Stereogatari
Banned
European parliament's mad they don't have that same market share on people's privacy.
Because even if everyone likes Google, they shouldn't be able to let roam that free; because then companies people don't like would be able to roam free as well, and that could be horrible.
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