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A comment on European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case. Parent comment

Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by bad_user on Wednesday July 18, 2018 @01:26PM (#17560298)
You’re talking of the eternal tension between security and freedom.

No, I don’t think that reducing choice and locking them in Google’s ecosystem is pro-consumer, even if done for the right reasons.

Let’s remember that Android was welcomed by many of us as a free (as in freedom) alternative to iOS.

If you want a locked-down, secure and polished OS, then Apple’s iOS is far better at this game. The only reason why Android is dominating the market right now is because it gave freedom to users and freedom to phone makers. And Google dialing that freedom down after becoming so popular is anti-competitive.

It’s essentially a bait and switch, which is why I believe Google deserves that fine.

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Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by bighi on Thursday July 19, 2018 @09:07AM (#17565840)
> The only reason why Android is dominating the market right now is because it gave freedom to users and freedom to phone makers

I would say that the biggest reason it's dominating is because it's cheap. For most people I've talked to, they don't like Android, but prefer to pay 20% of the cost of an iPhone.

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Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by kajecounterhack on Wednesday July 18, 2018 @02:03PM (#17560653)
> It’s essentially a bait and switch, which is why I believe Google deserves that fine.

Seems like you're projecting your own expectations onto what Google has really been selling all along. Google doesn't advertise Android as "free as in freedom." OEMs comply with their conditions. It's how it works.

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Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by GeekyBear on Wednesday July 18, 2018 @02:42PM (#17560989)
>you're projecting your own expectations onto what Google has really been selling

Andy Rubin in 2010 speaking on how open Android is:

>the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"

https://twitter.com/Arubin/status/27808662429

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Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by kajecounterhack on Wednesday July 18, 2018 @03:09PM (#17561224)
Open doesn't mean the same thing as free.
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Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by bad_user on Wednesday July 18, 2018 @02:12PM (#17560736)
No, that was Android’s marketing from day 1 and as far as OEMs go, Google’s conditions have evolved, along with what they are shoving down on their users’ throats.

And as far as “free as in freedom” goes, the US law agrees with me via “estoppel”.

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Re:European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitr... by kajecounterhack on Wednesday July 18, 2018 @05:29PM (#17562230)
Open doesn't mean the same thing as free. Estoppel does not help that "free as in freedom" was never true.
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