[fortenforge]

These emails were released as part of the antitrust lawsuit against Google currently being pursued by the FTC. It seems to me that contrary to the FTC's claims about how Google's monopoly power leads it to stop innovating, exactly the opposite is true. If Google had stopped innovating it's clear that Bing eventually would have caught up in terms of quality. As these emails make clear though, Google kept its lead by continuing to invest in cutting-edge AI research.

Indeed, if anything it's Microsoft who should be scrutinized.

[advael]

Both are acting with monopolistic power in numerous areas and both should be scrutinized. Just because one argument against monopoly power is that incumbents can sometimes rest on their laurels and fail to innovate doesn't make this the sole reason to pursue antitrust action.

Not on you though, this kind of reasoning failure is so common I think it deserves a fancy "cognitive bias" name. Off the cuff maybe something like "Single Rebuttal Fallacy"?

[gofreddygo]

> These emails were released as part of the antitrust lawsuit

I never understood this: Why would hot shot, high powered people risk putting such things on email? Things that could backfire when released into public domain like from a lawsuit or a leak. They know this well, and still keep doing it. Why not setup an in person meeting, or just pickup the phone and talk ? Why email?

I almost feel they actually want it to happen but could never point my finger to how this could cover their asses, or an exit strategy?

[supriyo-biswas]

Ultimately, if the people at the company have to do a job, they have to communicate somewhat, and putting it on an email or another recorded medium is the best way to prevent endless meetings and have the perspective documented in a single place.

Everything has a legal liability, it doesn't mean that it's worth it to move everything to an undocumented medium.

[sida]

why were these emails released as part of the FTC's lawsuit against google.

How did the FTC get microsoft's email over an antitrust lawsuit against google

[cma]

These emails might have been offered by Google to show the opposite right, they just are part of the trial.

[fortenforge]

How would Google have access to Microsoft's emails?