[lost-theory]

Many companies are "all-in on the web" but aren't in the same position as Google. Look at the recent Chrome profile / Google account auto-login issue. Isn't that an example of Google exercising "control" over how its users interact with the web?

If Google is effectively a monopoly, does it matter if you could theoretically replace all of its offerings? Think about other monopolies in history, I'm sure they had "replacements" too.

[romed]

That is not accurate. If you went head-to-head with the Standard Oil Company they would send a guy over to blow up your house. The East India Company was based chiefly on genocide and high seas piracy. All this yip-yap about Google being a ruthless monopoly on a historic scale is completely ridiculous.

As for the Chrome login thing, being logged in on Chrome does not in any way shape or form alter the way in which Chrome interacts with non-Google sites or services. So I don't see how it is an example of how Google exercises control over the web. Certainly not in a world where I need only drag Chrome into the trash can to switch browsers (and, indeed, on a computer where Apple constantly exhorts me, in a way I cannot disable, to switch to Safari instead).