>I don't see anyone saying it's not Google's right to do these things.
I've seen plenty of people claiming that they think it's an antitrust violation and arguing that regulators should go after them for it. Though I'm not sure when not supporting a small minority platform like Windows Phone became an antitrust violation; if it has then Microsoft had better get to work shipping that edition of Office for FreeBSD.
Also, Google and Microsoft are competitors. And Microsoft has been attacking Google at every opportunity. I suppose using Microsoft as the standard for corporate citizenship is kind of a low bar, but you can only turn the other cheek so many times before some kind of response becomes an inevitability.
Especially when you have such a large organization. People keep thinking that corporations are like individuals, as though the CEO and the full legal department approves every decision an engineer makes before pushing an incremental update to one of a thousand different products.
Stories like this are completely plausible to have happened by accident or by a tiny minority of rogue individuals -- and then, multiply by tens of thousands of engineers, you see more than one such story because Microsoft PR turns every single one into front page news, and confirmation bias makes you believe it's the rule rather than the exception. Opposition research working as intended.
I don't think you've ever actually worked at a large organisation.
Engineers don't unilaterally make decisions about what goes into a product or not. That is the purview of the Product Manager and I assure you that senior executives (possibly even the CEO) do sign off on major product decisions like which platforms to support.
AnthonyMouse|13 years ago
I've seen plenty of people claiming that they think it's an antitrust violation and arguing that regulators should go after them for it. Though I'm not sure when not supporting a small minority platform like Windows Phone became an antitrust violation; if it has then Microsoft had better get to work shipping that edition of Office for FreeBSD.
Also, Google and Microsoft are competitors. And Microsoft has been attacking Google at every opportunity. I suppose using Microsoft as the standard for corporate citizenship is kind of a low bar, but you can only turn the other cheek so many times before some kind of response becomes an inevitability.
Especially when you have such a large organization. People keep thinking that corporations are like individuals, as though the CEO and the full legal department approves every decision an engineer makes before pushing an incremental update to one of a thousand different products.
Stories like this are completely plausible to have happened by accident or by a tiny minority of rogue individuals -- and then, multiply by tens of thousands of engineers, you see more than one such story because Microsoft PR turns every single one into front page news, and confirmation bias makes you believe it's the rule rather than the exception. Opposition research working as intended.
taligent|13 years ago
Engineers don't unilaterally make decisions about what goes into a product or not. That is the purview of the Product Manager and I assure you that senior executives (possibly even the CEO) do sign off on major product decisions like which platforms to support.