[Cyder]

the real issue, is that when enough people consume a service, it becomes a 'utility', and you are penalized if you don't use it. As such, if a percentage of the population uses something, it should be regulated as a 'utility'. Copyright laws should reflect this also.

Most jobs I've seen (even outside of tech ) require familiarity with Windows and Office, ie. basic skills linked to one platform.

Google is used enough and thus influential enough, it should be classified a public utility and forced to comply with strict utility laws ( which requires government approval to modify prices ).

IANAL, but I'm sure there are layers that could contrive the social penalties of not using Google service.

People make this logical leap in their brains without recognizing it when they use a service for years and rely on it for their daily information, then turn on the high paid exec's who are trying to squeeze a dollar from every user. Red Hat, Reddit, Google, Microsoft, Comcast, all need reigning in because of their necessarily high required utility in civilization.

[Buttons840]

I agree. Eventually companies become so big that not using them is, in D&D terms, a -2 to all stats for your entire life.

I mean, in exchange for giving them so much money that its gravitational field warps all of democracy, can we not get a little customer service when needed?

[colinsane]

mm i understand the argument, but looking at the other utilities around me, i think it has to be a last resort. we have way more options navigating this in the space of bits than we do of matter. monopolies sort of suck no matter how they’re owned or operated: rather to force the non-critical monopolies to break up than to immortalize them as utilities.