blog/content/links/google-slams-microsoft.md

+++ title = "Commented Link: Google slams Microsoft for trying 'to break the way the open web works'" date = 2021-03-24

[taxonomies] tags = ["links", "google", "microsoft", "news"] +++

Weird are the times when Google, trying to break the web, accuses Microsoft of doing it so.

Ok, let's put this in perspective:

• During years already, Google positioned itself as the source of ads in the internet, in the way that the only way one can make real money putting ads on their side was using Google. This basically killed all small ad companies (and I won't even put here that Google bought DoubleClick, which was the largest ad company at the time);
• Now that everybody basically needs to use AdSense (by Google), Google decided to put small blurbs on searches;
• Because the blurbs, less than 50% searches result in people actually going to the site;
• As for now, you can see that Google positioned itself as the only source of ads and killed the needs to access the site (which would provide ad revenue for it);
• Bothered by this, news corporations decided that enough is enough (they know internet is the way now, paper is a very small part of revenue now and ads are needed) and said "If you want to use the blurbs, you need to pay";
• Google, being Google, said no;
• News corporations went to the Australian governement, which realized the switcheroo Google was doing and sided with the news corporations and said "News corp have a point, and you should pay for using the content they produce";
• Google, being Google, said no.
• Google, not only being Google itself, also said "If you won't let us post blurbs without paying and force us to actually make people go to their websites, which would make us give money to them, then we are taking our ball and going home".

And that's, ladies and gentlemen, is when Microsoft jumped in. By siding with the news corporations and saying "Hey, if Google Search won't work more in Australia, you can be sure Bing will work". And that's when Google, being Google, said "You're trying to break the open web!"

Give me a fucking break, Google. You broke the open web years ago and now is calling everyone else what you did. And I don't mean this as a supporter of Microsoft -- which I'm not --, a supporter of the Australian government -- which I'm not -- or a supporter of big news corporations -- which, guess what, I'm not.

The sooner Google disappears from the internet, the better for everyone else.