[dragonwriter]

> Rather than fight it, wouldn't it have been more effective to try to replace it?

No, probably not, even if it would be more effective if you did actually replace it.

> A couple of really smart folks with some funding can found "NotGoogle, and actually not evil."

Isn't that the concept of DDF?

> Breaking Google's monopoly would do far more good than just taking on this single issue.

Perhaps. But if displacing Google were “easy” (like on the scale of “it would only take some of the best tech talent in the world and an enormous supply of capital”), the FAA and M of FAANGMAN, and some others, would each already have done it.