The $ 5 billion fine imposed by Google on the EU should not have much of an impact

The European Commission Wednesday hit Google with a record $ 5 billion fine forcing Android manufacturers to bundle Google search and its Chrome browser on Android smartphones sold in Europe. The commission also alleged that Google had prevented phone makers from using an "alternative" version of Android and that it had made payments to "some major manufacturers and network operators. mobile "to avoid bundling competing applications on their phones. To pay the fine, the commission expects Google to stop these practices. In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended his policies, saying that "the phones manufactured by these companies are all different, but have one thing in common: the ability to run the same applications. This is possible thanks to simple rules that guarantee technical compatibility, regardless of the size or shape of the device. "

" A typical phone comes with 40 applications from multiple developers, not just the company you bought the phone. If you prefer other applications – or browsers, or search engines – to those preloaded, you can easily disable or delete them, and choose other applications, including applications made by the 1 , 6 million Europeans who make a living as application developers. "

The case reminds me of US and European actions against Microsoft in 1998. Similar to the case against Google, the US Department of Justice and European regulators have accused Microsoft of bundling Internet Explorer on all Windows copies.This year, Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, told a Senate committee that "the software industry … is an open economic opportunity for any American entrepreneur."

did not know that a few months later, Sergey Brin and Larry Page would create Google, and Brin and Page did not know that their company would one day be in the same position as Microsoft at the time – a dominant leader in the field of regulators and antitrust lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic

It was hard to imagine that Google's internet technology would one day beat that of Microsoft, and that it would launch a browser which would become more popular than Microsoft's, even if Internet Explorer (and now Microsoft Edge) was grouped on all copies of the world.

One of the reasons why Chrome – as well as Firefox and other browsers – have been able to gain market share is that they can be downloaded and installed easily and freely over n & # 39; s. any Windows or Mac computer.

bought a Windows 10 computer, the first thing I did when I started using the machine was launch the new Microsoft browser, Edge, and use it to download a copy of Chrome. Since then, I have rarely used Edge.

And it's even easier to download apps on smartphones. Apple, for example, incorporates its own mapping program on all iPhones and no longer has Google Maps, but millions of users choose to download Google Maps.

Similarly, anyone with an Android device can download free from other browsers. are available for free in the Google App Store. This is true – the Google app store that, like Apple, allows users to download applications from competing developers.

It can be argued that it is much easier to use a bundled application than to download a competing application. While this is true, it is not difficult to download applications.

Twenty years ago, many people in the United States and Europe were uncomfortable downloading and installing PC software. are more tech savvy. Today's smartphone app stores are also easier to use than download sites in 1998.

I support the government's efforts to control bullies and prevent businesses from to unfairly muzzle their competitors. I suspect that there are valid cases that could be brought against Google. I do not buy the argument that Google uses the feats of its operating system to prevent other application developers from competing on the Android platform.

If someone with a software that really works better than what Google offers, people will know it. about it and start using it, as long as Google continues to allow competitors to use its app store.

There is also the question of fragmentation. In fact, there are many complaints about too much variation in the user interface among Android phone makers who decide which apps to offer and how users interact with the OS.

I'm not suggesting to Google to remove the ability of manufacturers to define the user experience, but as someone who has tried the phones of many companies, I think that's a problem . . I also think that this gives Apple a competitive advantage because Apple controls the iOS user experience.

I also do not think that the fine and restrictions imposed on Google will have a significant impact, even if Google loses its appeal. Although I have no doubt that Google is anxious to write this big check, it could easily do it without any noticeable impact on its results. And even if Google apps were unbundled devices, a lot of people would download and install them anyway. Maybe the market share of Chrome and Google would decrease a little, but not a lot.

Windows makes Microsoft Bing its default search engine, but the vast majority of Windows users use Google for search. I'm sure most Android users would do their best to use Google for search, even if the phone manufacturer provided a different browser.

Larry Magid is CEO of ConnectSafely, a non-profit Internet security organization of Google and some of its competitors, including Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook.