http://desicritics.org/ Superior South Asian bloggers on Culture, Media, Politics, Sport, Business, and Technology. en Copyright 2006 by the authors Mon, 4 Feb 2008 04:01:05 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss BC custom software http://desicritics.org/2008/02/03/005759.php#comment-319154 "Users necessarily are inert and do not want to move their email services for no good reason. " This argument sounds weak. If a user is being offered a choice but doesn't want to switch over because of sheer laziness, that cannot be termed as a monopoly of the current service provider. Think of other services like phone, cable, etc. You think a phone company could make the same case that people don't like to switch service providers, change numbers, etc? The govts are not going to buy that. "Also, imagine the amount of information that Microsoft and Yahoo have currently with respect to email addresses, address books - information which is priceless in the social-networked world" Most of the yahoo email addresses don't form any valid database. You have a quadzillion johnsmithx where x ranges from 00000 to 99999 or above. almost 90% have no other info that can be used to establish any sort of useful identity. Plus most of these ids are outdated or not in use. The only people who have any kind of use for these kind of addresses are bulk spammers who send ads for generic Viiagra and stuff (and which promptly end up in the bulk folder anyway). Such databases are hardly worth even $44 million, leave alone $44 billion. And you think the govts have nothing better to do than acting on behalf of crybaby Google because they are not getting enough hits on "I want fraandship" type teenage social networking sites? Give me a break! The worse thing than trivializing the profound is elevating the trivial and making these appear as though they are extremely important, on the same level as terrorism or global warming. 319154@desicritics.org Mon, 4 Feb 2008 04:01:05 EST http://desicritics.org/2008/02/03/005759.php#comment-319128 @Ledzius - Although your point of Email service being free is bang-on, the very nature of email services create a lock-in with the user. Users necessarily are inert and do not want to move their email services for no good reason. Also, imagine the amount of information that Microsoft and Yahoo have currently with respect to email addressses, address books - information which is priceless in the social-networked world - Google is sure to challenge that monopoly legally through anti-trust, because that is the only area where their market share is minimal. 319128@desicritics.org Sun, 3 Feb 2008 23:50:09 EST http://desicritics.org/2008/02/03/005759.php#comment-319127 "The only issue that might cause delay is that Microsoft and Yahoo combined would be cornering 95% of the email market, which flies directly in the face of anti-trust issues." I'm no legal expert, but this argument doesn't wash. Email service is free and any Tom, Dick or Sabheer can easily start their own free email service. And customers are not forced to continue with Microsoft or Yahoo email id if they think they have a problem with their monopoly. This is exactly what happened when Google came along. People deserted yahoo in droves to sign up with google mail. I find it ridiculous that someone could be accused of anti-trust when they are offering something free and are not trapping customers into some unfair business deal. There are a zillion other free email services which any consumer can switch over to if they think they don't want it. 319127@desicritics.org Sun, 3 Feb 2008 23:44:11 EST