[vetinari]

That would be a very dangerous precedent.

If Microsoft could do that to Google, can we do that to other companies? Can we write custom Netflix clients for unsupported platforms too? Or for another services? That a deep rabbit hole to follow.

[int_19h]

I don't see what's so dangerous about that precedent. Google would basically be forced to either make an app, or enable someone else making such an app (e.g. by providing a public API).

And it would only apply to companies that are so big, they act as a monopoly in some market segment. I don't see why forcing those to use open standards and documented APIs, so that everyone else can interop with them, is a bad thing.

I mean, imagine this being applied to Facebook. I suspect that if you could do everything that you can on their website through an API, that alone would be sufficient to defeat the barrier to entry to the social network market that is practically insurmountable today, and thereby create more healthy competition. Isn't that a good thing?

[GeekyBear]

Antitrust law is not applied randomly.

You must have a large enough market share for it to apply, and you must be using that market share as a weapon against competitors in another market.

[m45t3r]

> Antitrust law is not applied randomly.

> You must have a large enough market share for it to apply, and you must be using that market share as a weapon against competitors in another market.

I think Netflix is big enough for it, and yet they prohibit every custom client (thanks to DRM).