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Economic analysis fails when discussing #software: economists want to think about software as a commodity, where one app is a drop in replacement for another, like buying wheat or oil from a different supplier. User-facing software is really about a culture and conversation between users and developers. Consider #Microsoft #Teams and #emacs Org-mode. This would entirely fail in either direction, the cultures are too different. Teams is for large top-down mgmt, emacs for decentralized hackers. 1/
I think it is impossible to regulate #BigTech or #gatekeepers with the current structure of #AntiTrust because it is all about pricing as if software was a commodity. Until #competition #policy takes into account #UserFreedom, it will be an extremely limited tool for dealing with problematic software companies. This is laid bare in this current case against #Google https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/google-escapes-play-store-class-action-after-finding-more-persuasive-expert/
The most promise is in #EU #DigitalMarketsAct. #FTC's & #UK's policy overhaul shows promise.
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