Google might be the new Microsoft

Microsoft has long been reviled by the open source community. But Microsoft’s days of dominance ended when the world moved to the cloud and mobile devices. A writer at FOSS Force wonders if Google is becoming the new Microsoft.

Christine Hall reports for FOSS Force:

My guess is that the company poised to win the most-hated-in-free-tech prize is Google.

Yeah, Google. The company that’s popularized two Linux distributions — or at least, two operating systems using the Linux kernel. The company that’s given consumers free use of Docs and Drive, and which owns and operates the servers where tens of millions of people store their photos and music — and for free unless they like music too much and need extra storage. Google, which through its browser gave Linux users the gift of Netflix — something of a trojan gift, to be sure, but a valuable gift just the same. Free search, free Android, the free Chrome browser and free Chrome OS.

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