Comment by MBCook
6 days ago
That’s what should have happened long ago.
As far as I can see there are only two possibilities on any kind of near term:
Apple can lock Google and everyone else out, or Google can take over the web fully.
Those appear to be our only choices right now. I don’t like either one. But I know which one I don’t like more.
[flagged]
We are helpless now in the near term. It’s not trolling.
What can we do in the next two years (let’s say) that would accomplish both letting other browsers on iOS and preventing Chrome from taking over everywhere?
I don’t know of another option. As far as I can see, that’s it.
Longer term yeah we should break up Google. If they didn’t own Chrome that would fix the problem. But is that going to happen in the next year or two?
Or are we about to hand them even more control and then spend the next 5-10 years trying to unwind it?
As I’ve said elsewhere I don’t like this situation. I don’t think governments should have allowed it to get here. I’m not picking an”favorite monopoly”, just the option of the only two I see right now that I think will do less harm.
We’ve screwed ourselves and I don’t want to make it worse for (at least) quite a few years.
We are not "helpless" and setting an arbitrary 2-year deadline is a distraction. The DOJ and EU are moving faster than they have in decades. You ask what we can do? We can enforce browser choice screens and allow alternative engines immediately. This gives Firefox (Gecko) a fighting chance on mobile for the first time in history. Keeping the ecosystem locked down ensures Firefox never has a chance.
That line of roleplay of yours also seems to be just 'Doomsday Defense' part 2. Now you’re adding an arbitrary time limit ("next two years") to justify inaction. We don't need to "unwind" Google before we stop Apple's anti-competitive behavior, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. The fact that you view "allowing other browsers" (like Firefox) as "handing Google control" reveals the flaw in your logic. You are effectively arguing that we must destroy the village (the open web) to save it from the dragon, if this isn't concern trolling then I don't know what is.
[flagged]