Thread

1. 4chandaily · 1790423618 · focus · HN ↗

   Customer support has gotten so terrible. Now that all big companies have terrible support, none of them are punished for it. You can still occasionally find people who give a shit in small business, but that is it. Google is probably one of the worst offenders of all. I don't know what the solution is, it seems like the only way to get any satisfaction on an issue at a big corp anymore is a social medial call-out like this one.

   If you are here, thank you for Conversations, Daniel, it has been my go-to for years for communicating with friends and family.

   1. utopiah · 1790425016 · focus · HN ↗

      That's because you the user are not the customer of Google and such services. You are actually the product being sold to the customer, namely advertising companies, by Google.

      The farmer take care of his pigs but only to the point they get slaughtered.

      1. Loquebantur · 1790426191 · focus · HN ↗

         Google has captured what really is a public utility and should be either state-owned or heavily regulated.

         (Long) distance communications, just like public roads, breathable air, potable drinking water and so on do not fit into a "free market economy" paradigm.

         They simply don't fulfill the basic requirements that make the "market" idea work.

         Specifically, a free market needs goods from different suppliers to be easily interchangeable. You cannot sensibly build multiple roads parallel to each other, or have multiple water pipes installed and you have only one airway to breath through.

         1. philipallstar · 1790427476 · focus · HN ↗

            Nothing has been captured, any more than a company inventing anything has "captured" it.

            And there are other companies: Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Tencent MyApp, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor, K Telecom T-Store, Jio, MTN Play.

            Not even close to a captured utility. And if it were, which state on the planet should own it?

            1. Matl · 1790427809 · focus · HN ↗

               > there are other companies: Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Tencent MyApp, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor,

               Tell me about the different OSes each of Samsung, Huawei, Tencent MyApp, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor etc. run then that we can choose from.

               It's like saying Windows doesn't have a monopoly in the PC space because HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS.

               1. philipallstar · 1790431229 · focus · HN ↗

                  > Tell me about the different OSes each of Samsung, Huawei, Tencent MyApp, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor etc. run then that we can choose from.

                  Other companies using Google's incredible R&D spend and selling phones that use it is not Google's failing.

                  And we're talking app stores. They all have app stores disconnected from Google's app store.

                  > It's like saying Windows doesn't have a monopoly in the PC space because HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS.

                  No, on two counts. One: - and it's the same with Android - Apple exists, and so there's definitely not a monopoly from a lowercase personal computing perspective. Two: the conversation is about app stores. There are many app stores. It's like saying Microsoft doesn't have a PC hardware monopoly because HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS.

                  1. margalabargala · 1790431837 · focus · HN ↗

                     > Other companies using Google's incredible R&D spend and selling phones that use it is not Google's failing

                     On the contrary. I disagree.

                     It's possible to build something so successful and difficult that it rises to the level of public utility.

                     1. philipallstar · 1790439347 · focus · HN ↗

                        Why not say that Samsung's phone manufacturing is a public utility? That's successful and difficult.

                        1. margalabargala · 1790440198 · focus · HN ↗

                           Samsung is, as pointed out elsewhere in the thread, one among many. Like Dell. It's different in kind, not in degree.

                           If you make that comparison you clearly don't understand the point being brought up by others here. Which is fine. I'm not going to convince you, I'm just informing you how I'll be voting.

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