I could have clarified there. Google propping up a few browsers is good for consumers in the short term.
In the long term I'd argue that less competition will be a bad thing, and that we have already seen that when it comes to browsers.
For years Google made a habit out of ignoring the spec process in favor of designing their own web specs and shipping them in Chrome. That's ultimately bad for developers who have to code for different browsers like we're back in the IE days, and it being bad for developers leads to it being bad for users.
More importantly, the few browser vendors we do have can take all this Google money and use it to subsidize features that are bad for privacy, or further anticompetitive behaviors in related fields like AI. Without the Google funding we could end up with new browser competitors that are at least on a more level playing field.
All that said, I'm not actually a fan of government intervention and am torn on that front. If we do have a government tasked with protecting markets from anticompetitive behavior, though, they should enforce it.
In the long term I'd argue that less competition will be a bad thing, and that we have already seen that when it comes to browsers.
For years Google made a habit out of ignoring the spec process in favor of designing their own web specs and shipping them in Chrome. That's ultimately bad for developers who have to code for different browsers like we're back in the IE days, and it being bad for developers leads to it being bad for users.
More importantly, the few browser vendors we do have can take all this Google money and use it to subsidize features that are bad for privacy, or further anticompetitive behaviors in related fields like AI. Without the Google funding we could end up with new browser competitors that are at least on a more level playing field.
All that said, I'm not actually a fan of government intervention and am torn on that front. If we do have a government tasked with protecting markets from anticompetitive behavior, though, they should enforce it.