Yes but PROVE IT. Define what wrong they did. That’s my point.

Take a look at the recent monopoly trial, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html

They claim that spending $18 billion per year to be the default search engine makes them monopolistic. That’s it? That’s all they got?

So the result will be Google stops paying $18 billion and device/browser manufacturers have to put up a Browser Choice dot EU type option.

Go back 10 years and put that law in place. AFAIK Apple has always defaulted to Google. Samsung probably would have sold out to Bing to be the default (although in this case Bing wouldn’t reach a monopoly, so I guess that’s ok for some reason).

I’m not saying paying to be the default didn’t help, but is that the reason they have 90% of the searches? No.

Did they do some else? Maybe. Someone should prove it and we can have an actual change.

Being a monopoly and engaging in negative monopolistic behaviors are also different things.

For example if the only two burger joints in the world were McDonalds and Burger King, and Burger King decided to replace their burgers with literal shit, actual human and animal feces, would McDonalds be a (I hope and assume) monopoly? Probably. Are they engaging in negative monopolistic behavior? Not necessarily.

Obviously, as a quick aside, fuck Google for their shitty software decisions, their cancelling of great products and their enshittification of a majority of their applications.

However simply having 90% of the market does not technically mean they have done anything wrong. You can’t say they have 90% of the market therefore they have done something illegal or have abused being a monopoly.

You have to be specific. You have to call out payment to companies to be the default. But even that isn’t quite enough because companies sold access. Can a company be at fault for buying access as the default? It was for sale. It’s a weak argument, or at least an incomplete one. You need to prove they abused their position. Or you need to make a case that the industry they are in requires additional regulation as a whole.

I say this because although it sounds like I’m defending Google I’m not. There is a difference between something feeling illegal and something being illegal. Technically, although a recent judgement would disagree with me, they haven’t done anything wrong. It feels like they have. I agree it feels like they have. But they haven’t (or there are further pending results which will prove otherwise).

I thought the same for a long time. I had a gaming PC, I had my Switch (or earlier Nintendo consoles), I was covered. Eventually my gaming PC reached the end of the road (15+ years, minor upgrades along the way.) I was happy enough without it so I decided against building a new gaming PC.

Then Baldur’s Gate 3 was announced. I knew I’d need a new gaming PC to play it. Of course alternatives like Stadia showed up at that time, but we know how that story ends, and it ends before BG3 came out.

Steam Deck truly is a savior. I can play the latest games. I can play my old games. I can emulate games.

Plus unlike Android it feels like a Linux machine underneath. I don’t say that to shame Android, but I don’t feel like I own the device. I can customize a lot, but I’m just a user. But the Steam Deck? I can open the hood if I like and it’s a Linux machine with a built in touch screen and controller. It’s my PC.

I use flat case most of the time, but I also try to stick to single word files so there is no case to get in the way.

I think for documents I might share like a PDF I’d use Pascal case.

In a classroom or teaching setting I will sometimes use Kebab case as I find it is the least confusing and makes it extra clear where the word division is. Similarly I avoid Dot notation since it’s confusing for folks coming from a Windows world.

And I would avoid Screaming because that’s just too loud anywhere.

Technically replaced by a similar product with a new name. I liked the simplicity of Chromecast, but if you bought the last two generations (anything past Chromecast Ultra) then you already have the more complicated device. So if you want to cast to a device, you can still do that.

Sure that reveals your distro, but also consider what is in the logs you’re sharing. If you’re asking for help you probably also already said that you’re running Debian. Or the logs are full of apt logs already, querying a well known Debian mirror.

You’re right that PC is a fine default, but think about the whole picture as well.

Yes. Many apps already do this. There is some specific wording you have to use since Apple doesn’t like when you do that, but yes you can.

A feel a little bad for the Logitech CEO here. It was basically a softball question, do you ever think you’ll have software subscriptions, which is a common thing, and he answered “Yeah, that’s possible.”

Obviously for a mouse it doesn’t really make sense, but paid software updates are common in the industry so who knows.

Obviously it’s stupid, but it’s funny to see it play out.

It’s definitely amplified to pretend that any existing story is a “real story” or to just pad a slow news day.

You can just say “Twitter users are saying” and suddenly something sounds important. No need to clarify that it’s just a few dozen people, and by “people” it’s just Twitter accounts many of which are bots.

The sooner Twitter implodes the better off we all are. Sure I’d like folks to move to Mastodon, but really I don’t care where they go. Bluesky or Threads is fine. Some new hotness/flavor of the week is fine. But Twitter is a lost cause. It’s speeding towards failure since Musk took over but he just accelerated its eventual fate.

Right but you said “hopefully” and “can”.

They haven’t actually done that yet.

I do think the Manifest v2 situation is interesting, but keep in mind the Chromium/Blink engine is fully open source.

It’s a trickier sell to say they have complete control when anyone is free to fork it.

Some players in the ecosystem have not been transparent with their use of Reddit’s content, and in those instances, we block access to protect Reddit content and user privacy.

Aka “Fuck you, pay me”, at least Reddit is transparent that data is for sale and they think they own it.

They killed support for the first gen Chromecast and the YouTube “app” has been broken for 3+ years. They’ll just stop supporting it one day and you’ll have to buy a new one.

On what grounds would that trial exist?

They’re the only rendering engine? Oh because they stopped paying Mozilla? Due to a court order?

It’s a complicated situation.

“the annoying webp” AFAIK is the same problem as JPEG XL, apps just didn’t implement it.

It is supported in browsers, which is good, but not in third party apps. AVIF or whatever is going to have the same problem.

It’s funny because they add a bunch of stuff to try and justify the huge cost increase, but realistically I don’t want any of the new stuff they are trying to add.

Hopefully these sell terribly and will be at least half price after the holidays, then it makes sense.

To frame this question differently, why is Apple able to sell default access on their devices?

Quick math shows Apple makes ~100 Billion per year. The article states Google pays ~20 Billion to Apple per year. That’s a significant value to Apple.

I’m not necessarily disagreeing with the decision, but curious how Google paying Apple is a monopoly, but Apple offering search to the highest bidder isn’t also a problem (or maybe it is).

As another example, how well did the EU browser choice ruling have on consumers choosing a browser.

I have to disagree.

Casting from my phone is the easiest method. I can have YouTube playing and jump between the different streaming apps to look for something to play. It’s easy enough to have a conversation with someone to discuss what to play next.

Excellent! I look forward to it then.

I did, but that requires either using a smart TV, which isn’t happening, or the Android TV interface which would require a new device and then a clunky interface.

Casting from my phone is the only acceptable method and all other apps support it.

An Apple TV app with Chromecast support and I’ll finally subscribe. Apple has put out a handful of great shows but piracy is the only way to watch them for Android users.