Could Chrome OS Land Google in Microsoft-Like Antitrust Trouble?

by Sam Dean - Sep. 04, 2009Comments (9)

Following TechCrunch's recent post showing alleged photos of Google's upcoming Chrome OS, which don't seem to show much beyond the fact that the operating system may have very large icons, there are some new clues emerging about it. As Download Squad cites, based on notes in a post detailing changes to the Chrome browser's Chromium core, Chrome OS sounds a lot like a bootable browser running on Linux. There are reasons to believe that as soon as you start the operating system, you'll be in the Chrome browser, and reasons to believe that you won't have the choice to use other browsers. That could potentially cause Google trouble.

As Search Engine Journal reports, based on change logs from the Chromium core of the Chrome browser:

"...it would seem that the Google Chrome OS might just be a bootable browser sitting on a Linux base, that once you fire up the OS, what you are going to see immediately is the Chrome browser. The Chrome browser would seem to act like the interface for the OS."

While everyone has expected Google's operating system to place heavy emphasis on the Chrome browser, it may be risky for Google to make the browser the actual interface of the OS. Microsoft has spent years dealing with antitrust problems related to bundling the Internet Explorer browser with Windows, which competitors say guarantees it unfair market share and impedes competition. Internet Explorer's market share continues to drop while Firefox's and Chrome's rises, which many people attribute to Microsoft's lack of interest in attracting more antitrust trouble, and the European Commission has put heavy pressure on Microsoft to offer more browser choices in Windows. Microsoft would face sound and fury from every angle if Internet Explorer comprised the interface for its operating systems, and made it impossible to use other browsers.

Google must be aware that it can get in similar trouble if it ignores the issue of browser choice. There is no question that the company has its sights set on more market share for Chrome. It has just struck a deal with Sony to make Chrome the default browser on Sony's VAIO computers--a page right out of Microsoft's playbook--and is making rapid progress with Mac and Linux versions of the browser. Could Google be set to overstep its bounds with Chrome OS? We'll see.


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9 Comments
 

I thought this would be obvious to most but....Google won't have trouble with this with Justice because they are open-sourcing Chrome AND the products that get sold for money will be from a variety of manufacturers, (Acer, Toshiba, Asus, etc)


So market competition will be quite active among the HW vendors building not only Chrome netbooks but Netbooks running XP, Win7 and perhaps others. So Justice will be quite happy.


How could anybody think Google would get in trouble for writing a codebase and then giving it away for free?


The goal of Justice is not to make sure that a market for browsers running on traditional PC operating systems continues to exist. Their goal is to make sure that in markets that are large enough and important enough to the economy that fair competition exists.


It's just that browsers running on traditional PCs is something that is starting to become less important with time.


How is this not obvious?


1 Votes

@Roger, those are good points, but I still wonder if the Justice Dept. (and the EU) might scrutinize Google on the issue simply because if they don't they'll appear to hold Microsoft to one standard, and Google to another. Appearances are part of the issue.


Sam


1 Votes

@sam, if the Justice Dept wanted to scrutinize Google to keep up appearances I wonder if they'd do the same with Apple. I haven't heard of such an examination and Apple's browser bundling with their OS has been going on for years.


1 Votes

@anon - I think Apple is going to be in for a slew of justice department investigations over the coming years. Their stranglehold on digital music (iTunes) and underhanded bundling of Safari with iTunes is going to serve as good fodder for the spooks to embark on another crusade...


1 Votes

I agree that Google won't face monopoly scrutiny if people don't have to pay for what they provide. I guess it's possible, but...


What I wanted to say based on what we're seeing is... is Google making their own splashtop? Splashtop is a Linux OS that can be bundled with a computer's motherboard and is a nearly instant-on experience. I wonder if Chrome is going to be just the same but with Google's name recognition and web services driving it.


This strategy would be remarkable since they could in theory ship on the same machine as a Windows installation but be available to the consumer as an alternative to ever booting into Windows. Windows could continue to be sold but lose marketshare!


0 Votes

It's not about whether Chrome OS is open source or free of charge. Google does not have an operating system monopoly with Chrome OS.


That means they can pretty much do what ever they want with Chrome OS and cannot be accused of using a monopoly product to provide an advantage to other products.


Now, if Chrome OS becomes a serious force, then they might have to be considerate of anti-competition laws. Until then, however, it's really not an issue.


0 Votes

As i understand it, and i am guessing, chrome's(browsers) tab bar will work as a open program panel, at least it would make sense if it would, because if you were to open "google reader/documents/..." you would see it as a separate program, not a mere website, but this doesn't mean you won't be able to open real programs in chrome(for example firefox next to gmail tab). http://www.dvds-online-rental-review.com


0 Votes

I don't think Google will make the same mistake that Microsoft has made by the essential integration of a certain browser. As I see it, Chrome OS will rather be configured and operated using a web interface that can be accessed with any browser.

Personally, I don't have any privacy concerns regarding an open source OS. Sooner or later someone would find out that it is "phoning home" with very negative effects for ht developer.

See my blog at http://chromeos-blog.com .


0 Votes

To me the real question isn't whether it's free or not - it's whether I as a consumer have the choice to utilize another browser.


If Chrome is baked into the OS and very tightly integrated, will I have the choice to run Firefox? What if I don't like Chrome at all - is it forced on me? Can I run the embedded web-apps in FIrefox instead of Chrome browser like GUI shell?


Even if Firefox is shipped as the default browser with some distros you can still uninstall it and utilize another browser.


0 Votes
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