"If you give your product away (as Google does) can it be considered a monopoly?"

Is it ?? I got this question and it got my juices going. .....

Are we (users) going down a blackhole of information that while mean a point of no return ?? Before commenting , please remember, this blog would not be in existence , without the company called as google--and also take time to read the previous forum post here

http://blogoscoped.com/forum/43002.html

This is an important thought tapestry at play :)-

technically couldn't you say that any website you visit has a cost to it? Maybe not directly from the web site you visit, but from your IPO. And if you don't say that, couldn't you say that Yahoo, MSN, and any other web site that you visit that doesn't require you to pay to view it is a monopoly as they are giving it away for free? Something to chew on...

Google isn't free. It makes you see ads. They make you buy products.

but all the data that they host for you is for free correct ??

gmail, calendar, groups, just name a couple for starters :)-

I'm no lawyer... doesn't "monopoly" mean that the cost of entry for competitors are high, i.e. through "Google lock-in"? Google always says that the next search engine is just a click away, which is partly true, but then again having 200,000 servers (or whatever amount of servers Google has these days!) isn't really just a click away for competitors...

"Monopolies are characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods."

I see use used google define:monolply for the definitioning /pd :)-