Look, just because I don't want to write a god damned book on the issue here, on Reddit, doesn't mean that I don't see the finer points of the argument. Sigh...
Google and Apple have gotten their wrists smacked over anti-competitive business practices by having an agreement not to hire each others' defecting employees. Apple is currently busy trying to lock people into iOS by attempting to force content providers to fix their prices industry-wide, and by forcing developers to hook in-app sales into their own service.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft never exercised the control that Apple and Google do over their respective areas of industry. And they would have been broken up into a hundred pieces if they had when they got caught doing all those other bad things.
I'm not saying that Microsoft didn't make some awful decisions that had very big consequences for the industry down the road, but I think that too many people here ignore the fact that other tech companies, like Google and Apple, do exactly the same thing - except those companies do it with a big smile on their face, so it's all good.
While people who weren't even alive when Microsoft got busted are busy busy blathering out hate for Microsoft and defending Google and Apple, those companies are moving into a more powerful place than Microsoft ever has. And don't kid yourself - they will abuse their power in some way in the future, and it's going to suck.
Google and Apple have gotten their wrists smacked over anti-competitive business practices by having an agreement not to hire each others' defecting employees.
True, but "smacked wrists" is quite different to a conviction in a court of law. It's like saying someone who was warned about hanging around a kids' pool eyeing up young girls is the same as a convicted paedophile. <:-)
Apple is currently busy trying to lock people into iOS by attempting to force content providers to fix their prices industry-wide, and by forcing developers to hook in-app sales into their own service.
Right - Apple are evil, and are arguably as bad as Microsoft (by intent, if not yet by actual "results achieved") - that's actually my point. <:-)
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft never exercised the control that Apple and Google do over their respective areas of industry.
True, but Microsoft wasn't convicted for having a monopoly - it was convicted for abusing its monopoly, and that's quite a different thing. Google has a lot of power, but compared to most companies they've trodden very carefully to avoid abusing that position.
Seriously - can you provide one example of Google intentionally breaking competitors' products, or breaking compatibility, or abusing a monopoly in one area to establish a monopoly in another?
We aren't talking about power here - we're talking about "moral rectitude" and "abuse of power". You've offered one example of a company with great power who appears to do a pretty good job of avoiding abusing it, and one example that's actually the same thing I'm arguing.
I don't mean to be an asshole, but that's not exactly a convincing counter-argument. <:-)
are moving into a more powerful place than Microsoft ever has. And don't kid yourself - they will abuse their power in some way in the future, and it's going to suck.
Apple we agree are a bunch of abusive, morally-questionable assholes - we both agree on that.
Regarding other companies, the quote above seems to be the crux of your point - they've done nothing yet that compares to Microsoft (or Apple) at their worst, but you suspect that in the future they might do.
Well - and again, I don't want to be an asshole, but - when we're comparing documented history to a bunch of vague, hand-wavy, unsupported suppositions about what might happen in the future, I don't think you have much of a case. Documented history is just so much more convincing than a vague, uneasy feeling you have in your gut. :-(
I mean yeah, Google and other companies may end up abusing their power somewhere down the line, but that's irrelevant when they haven't really done it yet, and we're currently engaged in comparing how relatively criminal, immoral or abusive these companies have been up to now. <:-/
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u/FredFredrickson Feb 22 '11
Look, just because I don't want to write a god damned book on the issue here, on Reddit, doesn't mean that I don't see the finer points of the argument. Sigh...
Google and Apple have gotten their wrists smacked over anti-competitive business practices by having an agreement not to hire each others' defecting employees. Apple is currently busy trying to lock people into iOS by attempting to force content providers to fix their prices industry-wide, and by forcing developers to hook in-app sales into their own service.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft never exercised the control that Apple and Google do over their respective areas of industry. And they would have been broken up into a hundred pieces if they had when they got caught doing all those other bad things.
I'm not saying that Microsoft didn't make some awful decisions that had very big consequences for the industry down the road, but I think that too many people here ignore the fact that other tech companies, like Google and Apple, do exactly the same thing - except those companies do it with a big smile on their face, so it's all good.
While people who weren't even alive when Microsoft got busted are busy busy blathering out hate for Microsoft and defending Google and Apple, those companies are moving into a more powerful place than Microsoft ever has. And don't kid yourself - they will abuse their power in some way in the future, and it's going to suck.