cross-posted from !google@lemdro.id
Microsoft’s Nadella to Testify at Google Antitrust Trial Monday
By Leah Nylen and Dina Bass
October 1, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. EDT
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is set to take the stand Monday as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust trial against Google.
The DOJ has accused Alphabet Inc.’s search division of unlawfully maintaining a monopoly by paying $10 billion a year to rivals, smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers to make its search engine the default option on mobile devices and web browsers. Google has denied the allegations.
To help prove its case, the DOJ hopes to use testimony from Nadella and other executives from Microsoft to show how even a company of its size and resources couldn’t unlock Google’s hold on the search market.
Last week, Microsoft business development executive Jonathan Tinter testified that the Redmond, Washington-based software giant failed to secure a deal to put its Bing search app on Apple’s products, even though it was willing to offer far better terms than Google and lose multiple billions of dollars on the agreement. In the end, Apple signed a fresh deal with Google.
Tinter also told the court that Microsoft’s Surface Duo smartphone was required to use Google search in order to license the Android mobile operating system and was limited from using Bing on its own devices. Nadella was personally involved in discussing some of these issues with his Google counterpart, Sundar Pichai, and will probably be asked about those conversations.
Nadella was instrumental in the development of Bing, created by Microsoft in an ultimately doomed attempt to catch up with Google and capture a chunk of the online advertising market.
While Bing has gained share on desktop computers, where it was integrated with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and later Edge browser, it has lagged on mobile devices where people overwhelming use Google. Three or so years ago, Microsoft even discussed selling Bing to Apple, a transaction that would have replaced Google as the default option on the iPhone maker’s devices, Bloomberg reported. But a deal never came to fruition.
It’s hilarious that Microsoft will be testifying on the antitrust behaviors of another company.
I agree Google can be taken down a few notches, but it defeats the purpose of Microsoft can’t also take some spotlight over the Windows 10, 11, and Edge shenanigans.
Their whole ecosystem is built on antitrust behaviors.
It isn’t hilarious, it is just how trials go.
You can be testifying for one, and have a trail of your own in another.
One does not exclude the other.
Let Microsoft executives testify under oath about what monopolistic behavior looks like, then subpoena their internal communications. They’re going to testify against themselves if they tell the truth under oath. If they don’t tell the truth, it’s felony perjury.
So if as a result of this, Google won’t be allowed to pay to have their search engine be the default, does that mean the effective end of Mozilla?
If Mozilla exists only at Google’s pleasure it should either reform or die. As far as Google is concerned Firefox is just a useful tool to avoid anti-competitive regulations because they can claim that an alternative browser engine that isn’t directly influenced by Google exists.
The poor CEO should then lower her 5M paycheck, which is surely deserved, given the great job she did increasing FF usage share /s.
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I doubt a a court would care about a browser engine monopoly. They’re more concerned with markets and money, not with technical implementation details or open standards. Besides, even if that were to happen, google can point to Safari which is a different implementation with a very large market share.
