Is Google a good monopoly?

[oiprocs]

I cannot recall the last time I used a search engine that was not tied to Google.

The email account I have that is not university issued is gmail.

They provide so much useful stuff that I have never thought of it as a monopoly.

This came to me only when I read that they came out with their own browser. Having already knocked out IE upon launch, it seems they are going after the beloved Firefox.

Cliffs
Google - Monopoly? Good or Bad?

 

[RichardE]

Good, and anyone who says different is just living on borrowed time.

 

[mundane]

More people are using Chrome than IE? That's news to me.

 

[HopJokey]

No "monopoly" is good. Google is not a monopoly (they have competition even if they are better than all of them); if they had no competitors their motivation to innovate would be much lower.

 

[TheoPetro]

I wish MS would get its shit together and put up a search engine/web app package to compete with google. Anyone having a monopoly on tech is just bad news in the long run. I like google right now but I could see them turning pretty bad in a while.

 

[oiprocs]

Hmm, no I don't believe that is true. I just like to take shots at Microsoft any way that I can, without really any merits to do so.

if you like to hate

 

[oiprocs]

Originally posted by: TheoPetro
I wish MS would get its shit together and put up a search engine/web app package to compete with google. Anyone having a monopoly on tech is just bad news in the long run. I like google right now but I could see them turning pretty bad in a while.

Yes, this is what I had in mind.

Maybe I'll edit my OP to reflect the clarity in this post.

 

[Baked]

I like google search and gmail, but I'm not a Chrome user. FF has been my browser since the day netscape went under. I see no reason to change from a perfectly fine browser.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: HopJokey
No "monopoly" is good.

i respectfully disagree. a natural monopoly is indeed a good thing.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: Baked
I like google search and gmail, but I'm not a Chrome user. FF has been my browser since the day netscape went under. I see no reason to change from a perfectly fine browser.

FF's been my browser of choice since .6 alpha of phoenix.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: HopJokey
No "monopoly" is good.

i respectfully disagree. a natural monopoly is indeed a good thing.

So you don't want eleven different water companies running pipe through your yard?

 

[oiprocs]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: HopJokey
No "monopoly" is good.

i respectfully disagree. a natural monopoly is indeed a good thing.

So you don't want eleven different water companies running pipe through your yard?

Uhh, no, right? You just want one?

I'm

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: oiprocs

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: HopJokey
No "monopoly" is good.

i respectfully disagree. a natural monopoly is indeed a good thing.

So you don't want eleven different water companies running pipe through your yard?

Uhh, no, right? You just want one?

I'm

I should have replied directly to HopJokey, sorry for the confusion.

 

[GoSharks]

Google is far from a monopoly.

 

[Random Variable]

Who cares? It's just a stupid search engine company trying to get involved in things outside of search that will ultimately fail.

That having been said, Goole has been my homepage for like 8 years.

 

[oiprocs]

Originally posted by: Random Variable
Who cares? It's just a stupid search engine company trying to get involved in things outside of search that will ultimately fail.

That having been said, Goole has been my homepage for like 8 years.

Why do you think they will fail? Seems to me like it is run by a group of smart individuals.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Random Variable
Who cares? It's just a stupid search engine company trying to get involved in things outside of search that will ultimately fail.

That having been said, Goole has been my homepage for like 8 years.

They seem to be doing a lot of things right on a lot of levels to me...

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

It's not a monopoly.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: Baked
I like google search and gmail, but I'm not a Chrome user. FF has been my browser since the day netscape went under. I see no reason to change from a perfectly fine browser.

FF's been my browser of choice since .6 alpha of phoenix.

I went straight from Netscape 4.72 to Phoenix 0.6 myself

 

[Train]

as long as they dont use thier clout in the search and ad space to trample up and coming potential competitors, they are fine.

If they really do turn into a monopoly, they will eventually get complacent and someone will come along and replace them.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
It's not a monopoly.

 

[oiprocs]

Well, can anyone name a worthy competitor in the search engine business?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: TheoPetro
I wish MS would get its shit together and put up a search engine/web app package to compete with google. Anyone having a monopoly on tech is just bad news in the long run. I like google right now but I could see them turning pretty bad in a while.

They are doing it. Live Search is not quite a good as Google in my opinion, but it's not bad and continues to improve. Hotmail is just as good as GMail, I suspect their Office cloud application will kick the shit out of Google Docs and they are world leaders in enterprise email solutions. With their Azure cloud platform on it's way, you're going to see big strides by MS in the web app department.

Having said all of that, I currently use GMail, Google Calendar, Chrome, Google Docs, Google Reader and Youtube more than any of the competitors.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: oiprocs
Well, can anyone name a worthy competitor in the search engine business?

Live is not bad, but not quite at Google standards. Live Image Search is pretty close to Google Image Search.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I think it depends on how they handle their advantage. Google has been going around the country and buying up fiber optics like crazy. They have a number of subsidaries that are virtually undetected and they buy a lot of development rather than doing it "in house".

That can be damaging to the start ups after Google buys the owners out for the technologies and not the employees/companies' best interests. I say, give them 5 more years to prove themselves...