Honestly the whole concept seems like a media push by vested interests even considering my own bubbles and biases. I have encountered little of it from actual commenters - not even in areas where astroturfing and axe grinding is rampant. Anti-Facebook people usually just say delete your Facebook account not trust bust it. Anti-Amazon usually object to warehouse conditions and complain of counterfit products. Small business owners use it to project their reach. I have purchased comics from Amazon before and it was shipped directly from a neighboring state's comic book shop for one.
The concept of splitting is inane really - what would make a good division?
The selective condemnation is also highly suspicious - Comcast is one of the most hated companies and yet they don't talk about splitting them up or their defacto actual monopolies?
I do find the presumptiousness of this type of clickbaity headline amusing, as if those three utter behemoths don't likely have vast amounts of brainpower deployed at corporate strategy already!
I'm not sure those email addresses are real. This seems more like a PR piece for the consulting company.
But they so write each other from time to time, at least I remember something along those lines from the no-poaching emails that surfaced in a lawsuit about agreed salary caps (My memory might be corrupted here, I'm not sure about it)
You might be surprised, it is a matter of public record that they do just that.
Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Sergei Brin, and others illegally conspired -- via email -- to avoid competing for labor, suppressing employee pay. It resulted in a (somewhat) successful class-action lawsuit against Google and Apple for their violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
If you'd like to read some of the emails that the un-convicted criminals who operate these companies exchange:
Ehh, I'm not sure if I liked this piece that much. I think it's grossly oversimplifying the issues and presenting the solution as "do this, not that, and everything will be ok". Also:
It's a literary conceit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceit ergo fictional addresses have been used, and madey-uppy corporate name referencing key idea from economist Adam Smith.
edit: Well, I liked it. I don't think it grossly oversimplified the issues.
Clearly big tech operates monopolies. Probably Google/Alphabet should never have been allowed top buy DoubleClick. Facebook definitely should not have been allowed to buy Instagram and WhatsApp. Microsoft still has a desktop monopoly. As the article says Amazon controls 40% of online commerce (in the US). Imagine controlling 40% of bricks and mortar trade. The mind boggles. Apple has competition in every area but they lock their users in to their ecosystem in a way that is not seen in other markets. Imagine if you bought a car and then you had to keep buying cars from that manufacturer because switching brands was too much of a hassle. Or banks. Or whatever. Netflix has competition so they're fine.
It's not a crime to have huge valuations. It should make people sit up and take notice. I don't think FAAAM will reform themselves. If it wasn't for open source and Linux things would be way way worse. If the regulators don't do their job it'll be up to people like us to build open source products to neuter these companies. Probably we should be doing that anyway.
The irony about all of this is that you can live a perfectly normal life without Amazon, Facebook or Google these days. We sat around and watched in fascination and then horror as these companies became the "BAADD" companies they are today. Why does anyone expect them to self regulate? When you grow a business to this size, you not only learn a lot about your product and business but you also learn a lot about manhandling DC. As long as lobbying is a thing (FB has spent around $7 million this year alone), this is the shit sandwich we're all going to be eating for awhile.
[+] [-] wonderbear|7 years ago|reply
Also let's please not start saying "techlash".
[+] [-] Nasrudith|7 years ago|reply
The concept of splitting is inane really - what would make a good division?
The selective condemnation is also highly suspicious - Comcast is one of the most hated companies and yet they don't talk about splitting them up or their defacto actual monopolies?
[+] [-] marsrover|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] known|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bduerst|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gniv|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] growlist|7 years ago|reply
I do find the presumptiousness of this type of clickbaity headline amusing, as if those three utter behemoths don't likely have vast amounts of brainpower deployed at corporate strategy already!
[+] [-] whydead2|7 years ago|reply
That'd be something else.
[+] [-] mikejb|7 years ago|reply
But they so write each other from time to time, at least I remember something along those lines from the no-poaching emails that surfaced in a lawsuit about agreed salary caps (My memory might be corrupted here, I'm not sure about it)
[+] [-] saagarjha|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] regulate_asap|7 years ago|reply
Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Sergei Brin, and others illegally conspired -- via email -- to avoid competing for labor, suppressing employee pay. It resulted in a (somewhat) successful class-action lawsuit against Google and Apple for their violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
If you'd like to read some of the emails that the un-convicted criminals who operate these companies exchange:
https://www.wired.com/2009/08/palm-ceo-rejected-jobs-anti-po...
[+] [-] anthanm|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] msl09|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leowoo91|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saagarjha|7 years ago|reply
> Tim Cook <[email protected]>
That's not his real email.
[+] [-] igravious|7 years ago|reply
edit: Well, I liked it. I don't think it grossly oversimplified the issues.
Clearly big tech operates monopolies. Probably Google/Alphabet should never have been allowed top buy DoubleClick. Facebook definitely should not have been allowed to buy Instagram and WhatsApp. Microsoft still has a desktop monopoly. As the article says Amazon controls 40% of online commerce (in the US). Imagine controlling 40% of bricks and mortar trade. The mind boggles. Apple has competition in every area but they lock their users in to their ecosystem in a way that is not seen in other markets. Imagine if you bought a car and then you had to keep buying cars from that manufacturer because switching brands was too much of a hassle. Or banks. Or whatever. Netflix has competition so they're fine.
It's not a crime to have huge valuations. It should make people sit up and take notice. I don't think FAAAM will reform themselves. If it wasn't for open source and Linux things would be way way worse. If the regulators don't do their job it'll be up to people like us to build open source products to neuter these companies. Probably we should be doing that anyway.
[+] [-] kgwgk|7 years ago|reply
I suspect that the memo was not even written by her, the real author being her husband Adam.
[+] [-] bduerst|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cityzen|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MrEfficiency|7 years ago|reply
What is considered 'Normal'. If I want users to find my website, they use google.
If I want to buy all of my components for a project and get them in 2 days, I use Amazon.
I suppose these are avoidable, I'd lose about 200 users a day + use digikey and spend more on 2 day shipping...
To be competitive I need to use these services.
I cant say the same about Facebook, Apple, and Netflix. I dont use those services.