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Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by echelon on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @04:34PM (#28385207)
Even with his billions, Jeff Bezos is such a sore loser. This is just like him whining and moaning about losing JEDI to Microsoft. A contract literally written for Amazon to win.

Elon Musk is trying to push the boundaries of what humans do, yet he's got this remarkable jealous space cowboy as a thorn in his side. A hundred problems and now this. I can't imagine the weight on his shoulders. What a sick joke.

Amazon has its hands in too many pies anyway and needs to be split up. It's doing real damage to small business and consolidating too much leverage under the hands of the esteemed powerful few.

Bezos is a power player and he's dangerous. He's rubbing shoulders with politicians, has a snazzy place near DC to wine and dine them, and has a media outlet to publish hit pieces on his enemies. Total menace.

Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by betwixthewires on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @04:39PM (#28385259)
I'm not really a bezos or amazon hater, but fact is that amazon uses an anticompetitive business model in almost every endeavor they engage in and this needs to be stopped.

I generally like amazon. They've made so many of our lives so much easier. But when they ban sellers from having lower prices on their own sites, wield regulatory agencies against competitors frivolously and things like this, it is unacceptable and this behavior needs to be strongly disincentivized.

Also, this anticompetitive stuff is counterproductive, there's a reason they've only ever sent their owner to space while spacex has sent astronauts and is working on their second gen vehicle already.

Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by ashtonkem on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @04:40PM (#28385266)
Don’t forget straight up stealing their seller’s products to put the “Amazon Basics” badge on.
Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by cranesnakecode on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @07:21PM (#28386805)
> this anticompetitive stuff is counterproductive

Competition leads to better results for everyone, but helping everyone isn't their goal. They don't just want to win, they want everyone else to lose even if it means less progress is made overall, because it means they get to be the biggest of the survivors.

Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by betwixthewires on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @07:28PM (#28386849)
It's fine of your goal is to help yourself and only yourself. Hurting others as a strategy is not acceptable. Imagine a sprint where the competitors could kick each other.
Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by r00fus on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @04:38PM (#28385253)
Amazon is also very connected in Washington. Hell, Bezos owns the Washington Post. Witness the litigation they got the government to investigate Apple for ebook and got a settlement, when Amazon was the elephant in the room.
Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by Raineer on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @04:54PM (#28385409)
Yeah this was truly an abomination. Everything Apple got in trouble for was undeniably illegal and the verdict was justified - but I'd argue the outcome wasn't. Even as an Apple customer, I'll state the "iBooks experience" is clearly shit in almost every way compared to Amazon - yet they get slapped down and Amazon doesn't. The 800-pound gorilla became the 8000-pound now.
Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by amusedcyclist on Thursday September 02, 2021 @12:23AM (#28388627)
That is way too generous to Elon, whos more of a celebrity for nerds than a real boundary pusher. Nothing hes done has truly moved the needle on our capabilities. I respect that he had the vision + charisma to actually make electric vehicles popular but nothing he's created comes to the all conquering giant that Amazon is. Amazon has also changed the lives of basically everyone in the developed world, which definitely cannot be said of Tesla or any other Musk company. I don't really have any love for Bezos, but he definitely deserves more respect for his achievments than Elon
Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by avaldes on Thursday September 02, 2021 @06:26AM (#28390408)
> Amazon has also changed the lives of basically everyone in the developed world, which definitely cannot be said of

How so? This is way too generous to Amazon. Buying things online faster is not a life changing feat. Neither are home assistants like Echo or Alexa. Maybe I'm missing something.

Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t... by amusedcyclist on Thursday September 02, 2021 @05:59PM (#28397917)
I'd argue that buying things online with no friction is pretty life changing. Lots of people barely go to stores anymore.I don't use an Alexa, but for people who do I think its a pretty big shift in their lives. This is not even to mention AWS which has been a huge factor in the creation of the modern internet. Also for better or worse Amazon controls the economies of many small exurban towns in various parts of the US. Not all of its impact has been positive of course, but the impact is objectively enormous. I would say after Google, its the most impactful of the FAANGS