So, Google do what corporations do - use a dominant position to pressure customers into dropping a competitor. And Skyhook respond with a lawsuit - all good corporate behaviour. Lawyers make a lot of money, regardless of the outcome, and the question of whether the users get a better deal is completely lost.
Is Skyhook's software better than Google's? Doesn't really matter. What does (in legal terms) is whether users have been denied a choice. MS got stung for this (rather as a bee stings an elephant) over IE, but the only outcome seems to have been the EU "Browser choice" screen. I doubt anything more will come out of this - except that the lawyers will earn some more money.
Finding out that Google is not a collection of wonderful altruistic coders who love puppies seems to be a shock to people. Get a grip - no company survives past it's first two years unless it is run by lawyers and accountants, no matter what it is offering. Once it is run as a business, it will do the same as everyone else and sail as close to the (legal) line as possible - generally going over it if the lawyers reckon they can get away with it or feel they have become so big they can't be allowed to lose (RIM anyone?)
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Google and Skyhook doing what corporations do..
So, Google do what corporations do - use a dominant position to pressure customers into dropping a competitor. And Skyhook respond with a lawsuit - all good corporate behaviour. Lawyers make a lot of money, regardless of the outcome, and the question of whether the users get a better deal is completely lost.
Is Skyhook's software better than Google's? Doesn't really matter. What does (in legal terms) is whether users have been denied a choice. MS got stung for this (rather as a bee stings an elephant) over IE, but the only outcome seems to have been the EU "Browser choice" screen. I doubt anything more will come out of this - except that the lawyers will earn some more money.
Finding out that Google is not a collection of wonderful altruistic coders who love puppies seems to be a shock to people. Get a grip - no company survives past it's first two years unless it is run by lawyers and accountants, no matter what it is offering. Once it is run as a business, it will do the same as everyone else and sail as close to the (legal) line as possible - generally going over it if the lawyers reckon they can get away with it or feel they have become so big they can't be allowed to lose (RIM anyone?)