Google's grip on users is as firm as it is invisible

[Commentary] As antitrust scrutiny mounts against Google, the company offers a simple refrain to deflect a destructive legal showdown with federal regulators: As Google Chairman Eric Schmidt put it during his appearance before a Senate subcommittee last month: "The competition is only one click away." The notion is as seductively simple as it is untrue. It resonates because it plays to the fantasy that the Internet is a free market paradise. In reality, Google has amassed a number of advantages that, while they may not be visible, make it improbable that millions of users will suddenly jump ship just because someone builds a better mousetrap. "People can quit smoking any time, too, but they find it very hard to do it," said Danny Sullivan, editor of the Search Engine Land blog and a longtime Google observer. "If you've got that habit, it's very hard to break it. People don't just go over and start trying new things."