Microsoft CEO says unfair practices by Google led to its dominance as a search engine::Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine, tactics that in turn have thwarted his company’s rival program, Bing. Nadella testified in a packed Washington, D.C., courtroom as part of the government’s landmark antitrust trial against Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The Justice Department alleges Google has abused the dominance of its ubiquitous search engine to throttle competition and innovation at the expense of consumers, allegations that echo a similar case brought against Microsoft in the late 1990s.
I mean he’s not wrong, but you know, pot, kettle, etc.
“They did what we did, and now we are pissed.”
True pot, the kettle is definitely a slut, but you’re a god damn whore!
Windows is constantly nagging you to switch to Edge when you use a non-Edge browser but apparently Nadella is totally cool with that.
Yep. Microsoft has been successfully sued for monopolistic behavior, but yeah, pot, kettle, etc.
Takes a monopoly to know a monopoly, I guess.
Man, I booted up a Windows laptop I use for 3D printing software for the first time in 6 months. The fucking popup ads for Microsoft shit were out of control. Fuck that shit, I turned it off and started searching for something that works under Linux.
Microsoft once bailed out Apple to show they have competition. Google financially supports Firefox so have a modicum of competition.
I mean, he is wrong. Google isn’t the default on Windows, but Chrome and Google search dominate Windows.
Google is the default for Android, so we can discuss that (but that isn’t what Microsoft is complaining about.)
That just leaves macOS and more importantly iPhone. Google pays to be the default there. Is that unfair? Should Apple be able to bid for/charge a company to be the default?
Additionally in all these cases switching is easy.
I won’t deny that being the default is an advantage but it isn’t like users can’t switch. You can remove Google search from your phone and it will work just fine. You can change the defaults on your Safari browser in a few clicks.
To be clear if this case uncovers shady/illegal behavior from Google, fuck 'em, but I’m not seeing it.
While I mostly agree with what you’re saying here, I would like to point out that removing Google Search from an Android device can prevent a user from accessing other applications or specific features within (obviously Google developed apps). I guess that one really comes down to what we think working “just fine” is.
I think you’re right for the Play Store or Google Play Services but I can disable the “Google” app and things run just fine, and I can install more apps.
You’re not wrong that ROMs that don’t include the core services have issues, but Google Search is definitely not required.
(As an exception some phones won’t allow you to disable certain Google services, but as a general rule you can.)
IMHO, no, he’s not wrong. Google is the default because they’re paying to be the default. That’s monopolistic.
It’s also not easy to switch from Google. In Safari, DuckDuckGo is set as my default search engine, but Siri will still use Google when I ask to search something. Same with Google Assistant. Sure, you can disable Google search on your phone, but that also removes other features that aren’t even related to search (like Assistant, which only runs if the Google app is enabled).
To me, that is absolutely anticompetitive behavior.
In the US if you want to watch the Olympics what company do you turn to? Well the only option is NBC who paid 7 billion for exclusive (US) rights, so you’re turning to NBC. Other companies could and likely did bid, but NBC paid the most. Even worse there are no (legal) alternatives.
How about your local sports arena, school campus or restaurant? Do they serve Pepsi or Coke? It’s not always cash but they might have bought (or discounted) that soda machine with the big PEPSI logo on the side, or the scoreboard that says COCA-COLA.
If I search for “shoes” on Bing the top result is Temu, are they monopolizing Bing Search?
Just because you pay doesn’t mean it’s a monopoly. Google pays Apple $20 billion per year to be the default. Microsoft can afford $20 billion, heck they can afford $40 billion, why aren’t they paying?
In terms of switching, you said you switched Safari but that didn’t update Siri. That sounds like an Apple bug to me. If Google is forcing/threatening Apple to make a worse product, that’s a case of them being a monopoly.
In terms of Assistant, that is part of Google Search. On my Android phone I can choose a different default “Digital Assistant”, in my case I can pick Firefox, but it looks like others exist in the wider ecosystem.
If you’re saying Google Search should be separate from Google Assistant, I think that’s a reasonable request, but not doing so doesn’t make them monopolistic. Looking online, since I don’t have these assistants/devices, Siri can be charged by changing Safari (which I know you mentioned was an issue for you earlier), but Alexa will only use Bing (unless you use some third party stuff) and I’m unclear about Cortana but Microsoft gave up on that so we can ignore it.
I do agree I would love to see more open and accessible APIs for all these different services. I should be able to have Apple iMessage on my Chromebook and Chromecast on my Apple TV. I think there is a lot that can be done to improve things, but what I’m not convinced of, yet, is that Google has been monopolistic. Obviously the case is ongoing, so I look forward to more information.
As for the Microsoft CEO, it’s clear to me he wants to be the default without paying for it. I won’t fault him for that, that’s $20 billion in savings.
This is more of a pot calling a pot black. The whole Kettle argument is implying projection. In this they’re not projecting just hypocritical.
I don’t care about either, just want better search back. Does anyone remember when you could search for a specific product or part and the first link was to the manufacturer? Now you have to sort through sponsored content, various retailers, link spam, paywalled articles, video reviews (usually made by bots), and social media posts to get to the manufacturers website.
Yes, it’s clear Google search is broken. Even searching for things you know exist may not show up in the search results no matter how specific you are.
Microsoft doesn’t know what good software looks like but it sure knows what anticompetitiveness looks like.
Nadella said Google’s dominance was due to agreements that made it the default browser on smartphones and computers.
Google gained dominance in the early 2000s when the dominant platform was the
smart phoneWindows computer, which had a default browser ofGoogle ChromeInternet Explorer and a default search engine ofGoogleMSN search.Those were truly dark times
Microsoft demands a level playing field so that its own unfair practices are able to compete in the free market of unfair practices. It’s the American way.
That’s a bit rich coming from Microsoft.
Their product sucks so much that even their hardest monopolistic practices can’t prevent people from using Google.
Hey pot! It’s me kettle! You’re black!
“We totally would have established a monopoly through blatantly unfair business practices, but we had to be a little careful because everyone was still watching us closely after the last time we did that, and those weasely sons of bitches at Google snuck in there first this time!”
Rich person complaining about other rich person being scummier than them and getting ahead.
“They got away with more than me, how’s that fair,” questions Tech CEO.
Says CEO of the company which created browser wars and broke standards to keep the monopoly. Same company which has so many lawsuits against them for the very same “unfair practices”. Am not saying Google is a saint, they are creepy in their own way, but boy is this pot calling kettle black.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Oh how the turn tables…
I mean, they’d know.
Fuck this guy, Microsoft is just as guilty. Their business practices are based around limiting competition and exterminating it, the only reason they don’t have a monopoly on cloud platforms is because they were to busy trying to sell overpriced Windows server, SQL and office licenses to businesses and Amazon jumped into the cloud business first. Look at what they’re doing with Activision-Blizzard, the Indiana Jones video game from Bethesda, Starfield exclusivity etc. in the gaming space. This shit is part of the reason why I run Linux.
I very much agree with the general sentiment here about Microsoft’s substantial hypocrisy and what a bad look it is, but isn’t it likely to the benefit of consumers if these large companies are helping fuel legitimate antitrust lawsuits at each other?
Removed by mod
How about shutting up until Windows no longer forces you to use Edge and Bing without the option to change or remove them.
Duck Duck Go > Google > Bing
If the world was fair, both Microsoft and Google search engines would be left behind in favor of a federated and open source solution.
Isn’t DDG using Bing though? What’s that paid search engine I’ve been hearing more about? Reviews seem to actually be descent.
DDG aggregates a few engines I think. Bing is among them.
I think you mean Brave Browser—it has actually been in a lot of controversy recently. Shady features that replace a sites targeted ads with ones that pay Brave instead. CEO seems like a jerk too.
Proceed with caution if you’re thinking about using Brave.
No they are talking about the search engine.
Which one? DDG is free, and people keep mentioning a paid service.
Oh I must have skipped a line I thought they were talking about the brave search engine never mind.
