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Comment by matwood | Hacker News Reader

This article is dead on. I already have many google apps open all day and g+ will integrate with those nicely. A friend already exclaimed this morning that the google apps integration is what will kill FB (if that's even possible - myspace still has users). He then set out to move over those he actually cared about on FB to g+.

I especially like default use of groups and how it forces users to think about privacy from the get go. This is very different from my FB experience years ago and why I quit using FB.

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It's a brilliant strategy, and I'd be very surprised if it doesn't lead to some antitrust litigation.

I think it's difficult to make the anti-trust case against Google.

Unlike Microsoft's control of the desktop, people choose to use Google everyday. It would be so very very easy to switch to Bing tomorrow (even easier than choosing not to use Facebook!) but people have chosen not to switch.

Just because you have a lot of marketshare doesn't mean you are a monopoly.

It's also quite easy to say that consumers will benefit from the increased competition with Facebook. This is what anti-trust tries to promote, not restrict.

To add to this...just because you have a monopoly does not make what you've done or what you do illegal.

Antitrust doesn't really on reason. It's a completely subjective law. In one breath you can be guilty because you have prices too low, in another because you have prices too high. Ultimately, it relies on how much pull you can exercise of politicians and bureaucrats.

I am not saying it's a good situation, just that that's reality.

That is likely the case, but technical fora tend to be overly concerned with "tying" (e.g. Internet Explorer or iTunes), while overlooking the indisputable fact that Microsoft did run a "trust".

MS had a set of legal contracts which gave them total control over PC distribution and pre-installed software. (And, they even had deals with their main competitors, Apple and IBM.) That was a much lower bar and easier for the government to make their case. In fact, the IE "tying" case was ultimately tossed out.

If anything, Google probably has more potential Antitrust issues in their relationship with Android handset makers than they do cross-promoting products on the web.

Tying as a legal issue has never made sense to me, and seems incompatible with private property and contract law. As a consumer, I don't have a right to an imaginary version of Windows without Internet Explorer that I wish Microsoft would build. Likewise, as a handset vendor, I don't have a right to an imaginary contract with Google where I get everything I want on my terms.

Tying laws, and antitrust broadly are a way for regulators to forcibly dictate what companies create. As stated above what's really revolting is this typically comes as a result of competitors lobbying to cripple the top player in the industry.

> It would be so very very easy to switch to Bing tomorrow (even easier than choosing not to use Facebook!) but people have chosen not to switch.

I assume that Bing also offers free e-mail with as many features, a calendar system, an equivalent of Google Reader, etc? Unless it can deliver all of that, it wouldn't be a very easy switch for me - whereas ditching Facebook is literally something I contemplate every time I access it and see the crap that's on my feed.

Microsoft has alternatives for mostly everything, including Google Apps if you're willing to switch to Exchange and pay the price for that.

But all these Google products are hard to switch from because they are kick-ass. It's hard for me to switch away, not because Google has me trapped, but because the competition sucks.

You can export all your data from Google and import it wherever you want. I did so with Google Reader (since you mentioned), but I came back to it since it's better than any desktop client I tried.

But this doesn't mean Google has lock-in, unless you extend the definition to include "being better than the competition" and that shouldn't trigger antitrust regulation; and if it did, you could say that the system is terribly broken.

Microsoft does...

Isn't most antitrust litigation started from the complains of smaller competitors? Would be tough for Facebook to argue that at this point.

Not if they are put out of business.

The groups setup is a brilliant stab at Facebook's handling of privacy issues. I think they're going to make a push to gain ground from Facebook by saying they are taking security seriously from day 1 instead of waiting for something embarrassing to happen.

Business really seems to like Facebook. More and more I see "check us out on our Facebook page". I want to see how Google addresses the display ad advantage Facebook presently has.

That's only because there's people on Facebook.

...and for some reason businesses feel the Facebook Like clicks are somehow relevant for them.

If people like a "business" page, they are actually opening a channel of communication directly to a customer that likes the company. If I were a business owner, I would like (no pun intended) to have such a channel with as many potential customers as I could get.

Except apparently less than 10% actually read said channel: http://www.allfacebook.com/shocker-3-to-7-5-of-fans-see-your...

Damn. How are these people getting invites?

G+ person zero in my social circle bought their invite on ebay for $2 this AM. He put everyone else in a circle and started posting. All those in the circle had received invites from him by the end of the day.

If your profile included some contact information, you might find an invitation appearing in your inbox.

If you actually have this ungodly power and wish to use it benevolently, please shoot me an invite. I'm dying to use G+. Thanks in advance!

I am sorry for trolling .. but I need an invite .. supreet.sharma.16@gmail.com is my id. Thanks

I'm sorry too, but please keep the chain of goodwill if you got an invite :)

I hate to bug you, but I'd appreciate an invite if you have one to spare. Thanks!

I'd love one as well, if you're still offering!

Especially when you consider that search is also a google "app".

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