zlacker

>>ColinW+(OP)
This is a clear sign of Google's weakness. They are losing their monopoly and are desperately trying to hold on to the net. In the last few weeks, they have announced that they will try to block navigation if you have an ad blocker installed (for example, when watching a video on Youtube). Take a look at Fuchsia for another example ... they are losing the control on Android, so they started this new project ... it is another sign. My recipe: AdGuard Home, Brave browser (phone, tablet, desktop), Bromite (phone), Firefox (desktop) + uBlock origin plugin ... and FreeTube on desktop. Just using Brave on the phone is enough to kill all ads and trackers. In the open source community, there will always be someone smarter than they think who will find a way around their gates... Few days ago Kevin Mitnick passed away, sadly, but there will be always another Kevin Mitnick ... Google will lose all respect from the community and will collapse sooner or later.

>>Daril+jL
>Google will lose all respect from the community and will collapse sooner or later.

I love this little bubble all of HN (or at least a vocal majority) seems to live in. Google is most definitely not collapsing anytime soon, and their products are loved by millions, if not billions, of users all over the world.

>They are losing their monopoly

No, they most definitely aren't. Brave Browser runs on top of Google's Chromium. Firefox runs on top of Google's money. Their lead in search does not seem to be going away anytime soon - there is a reason literally everyone on earth uses Google as a search engine. There is a reason literally everyone on earth uses YouTube to watch any video they want. There is a reason 70% of all phone users use Google's operating system. There is a reason Gmail is by far and away the clear leader in the personal email space.

>They have announced that they will try to block navigation if you have an ad blocker installed (for example when watching a video on YouTube).

As they rightly can. You are under no obligation to use YouTube - and if you do use it, you must pay for it, either by watching ads, or by paying for YouTube Premium.

HN can keep complaining about Google all they want, but Google is one of the few companies that has truly made the Internet the Internet. Their impact on humanity has a whole has so far most definitely been net positive, and you are under no obligation whatsoever to use their products. There is a reason they are the clear leader in the products they offer, and that is because they offer, say, a free tier (as in Gmail), or openness (as in Android).

>>xNeil+aV
> Their impact on humanity has a whole has so far most definitely been net positive, and you are under no obligation whatsoever to use their products.

The strategy over the years has always been the same:

1. create a necessary product and give it away "for free"

2. wait until people are used to it and consider it essential and difficult to migrate

3. close the gate and make it no longer free.

For example : Gmail for organisations (at launch free up to 100 users, then 50, then 10, then 0), Maps for websites (lower free tier now), Google Drive (lower free tier now), Youtube is next ... That these are the "best" products in the world is a subjective affirmation. They are pre-installed on devices and difficult to remove ...

They can do whatever they want with their products, of course, but trying to control the openess of the web as we know now, it is a different thing ...