Google is no Microsoft

[afa]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

How is google being evil , again? I must have missed that.

I think the main issue is with regards to privacy concerns, and the idea that Google has tons of data about all of us, data that they could conceivably sell to corporations to help them with... I don't know. Whatever. Selling stuff to us, I guess.

[Hellmark]

The only real way you could say Google is evil, is because they offer their products for free, when ordinarily you might pay for it.

After the web bubble burst, pay for email addresses went the way of the dodo. Only time you got a free one for a while, was from your ISP. Yahoo and Hotmail were the only ones left. Google came in with Gmail, offered better services, fewer restrictions (didn't have to worry about losing the account if you didn't log in after 15 or 30 days) and more storage space (initially a gig, vs 10mb at every place else). Everyone switched over, and the rest struggle to compete.

Maps. Mapquest was the big boy around. They offered free mapping on their website, and also charged others (like Yahoo), to use their system. They had a clunky system, that offered iffy directions (anyone here ever get lost following Mapquest directions, or get suggestions for turns that aren't possible?). Google once again went whole hog in, and made a system that was easier to use. Also, it was free, even if you wanted to put maps on your website. Plus, you could get apps for your cellphone for free (something that often was pay for prior).

Android. Wasn't the first mobile OS. Far from it. What made it special was that it was free, and open source. The prior competition were closed source (at least in part), and you had to pay licensing. While manufacturers can license Android, that only gives them extra options (such as being able to include the gmail and maps apps, as well as access to the Android Market) and is not a requirement. With Blackberry, iPhone, MeeGo, WebOS, and Symbian licensing is a necessity and often not possible for third parties to do. No need to reinvent the wheel, and build something on your own.

I can go on and on, with other things Google has done better and for free. Makes it hard to compete. If you have a superior product, you still have the problem of free vs pay for. If you have a free product, how many are better?

With all that said, their tactics don't make them a monopoly. They're not forcing people to use their products, and you can still easily be a customer of someone else. Other companies can also adopt similar tactics.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by afa

I don't think the problem was ever Microsoft "forcing" PC makers to buy Windows. How would they do that, anyway?

You make PCs. Most of your customers do, in fact, want Windows. Microsoft tells you "You must pay us for a Windows license for every PC you sell, whether it has Windows on it or not. Otherwise, we won't sell you any Windows licenses at all.

It's a slimy business practice, and Microsoft did it.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by afa

You say that as if it's not true...


I don't think the problem was ever Microsoft "forcing" PC makers to buy Windows. How would they do that, anyway?

The problem was that they were bundling IE and Media Player, etc. with the OS, which was considered to be an example of them unfairly using their position as the dominant market player to squeeze out competition (Netscape et al.).

With that, initially it was MS brokering deals with PC makers to preload their OS, and after a while so many machines had microsoft products, that it was expected. If you didn't, you were at a disadvantage to the competition, since the buyers wanted DOS or Windows, because their last computer had DOS or Windows, and they wanted their stuff to work. Even if they didn't have stuff prior, they still wanted to go MS because most of the software available was for DOS or Windows, or their friends had it and could help them learn to use it.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I think ex-Senator Rick Santorum hates Google more. He tried to get Google to remove the first result that comes back from searching his name.

LOL! And gross.