[mcarlin]

I think a much bigger problem is Wikipedia. It's a much quieter but much stronger monopoly, and the people who run it are known to be prone to cliques, drama and manipulation. Google is professional, and for the time being, not dangerous. Wikipedia is still somewhat unprofessional, and is rapidly becoming the world's source for encyclopedic knowledge.

[herval]

everybody I know always says wikipedia is a non-trustworthy source of encyclopedic information (unless verifiable in some other source). And plus there are several wikipedias out there, it is open source - and it doesn't even make 1/1000 of the money GOOG does! in what sense is it a monopoly?

[dimitar]

If it gets too bad it can be simply forked. And see Wikipedia getting better, not worse.

[jamesbritt]

"It's a much quieter but much stronger monopoly"

How is it a monopoly?