Microsoft’s Nightmare has a Name
And it’s name is Google. Read a really intersting article on news.com, about how an executive at Microsoft wrote a memo called “The Web is the Next Platform”, where he described how the internet will be the next platform, he said;
“The Web…exists today as a collection of technologies that deliver some interesting solutions today, and will grow rapidly in the coming years into a full-fledged platform (underlined for emphasis in the original memo) that will rival–and even surpass–Microsoft’s Windows,” Slivka wrote.
Microsoft went the other way and focused on the Operating system, pushed the head of development of the next version of Windows, Jim Allchin. Today they are making hosted services a more strategic part of the company and will fold their MSN Web portal business into its platform product development group, where Windows is developed. Focusing on the web and their new crop of competitors. But, is this the same ol same ol with new names in the competition slots? Google is by far the most likely to be able to take on Microsoft, with billions in the bank and more being made every year, they are luring away top employees from Microsoft and others, something which Microsoft itself used to do.
Google has also been buying up loads of dark fiber, fiber that is not being used, and it has been speculated that this will help them host applications and services to help steal some of Microsoft’s desktop dominance.
Another memo, called “Google–The Winner Takes All (And Not Just Search),” is also making the rounds. This internal memo, written in 2005, argues that Google threatens Microsoft and the company’s crown jewel, Windows.
“Google threatens Microsoft’s position on the Internet, and could potentially lock Microsoft out of its existing distribution channels and reduce the value of Windows.”
We shall see. Microsoft has had so many competitors who were supposedly going to help knock them from their perch, AOL, SUN, IBM, Oracle, etc, and it’s never happened. Profits at Microsoft amount to about 12 billion a year, tripling in the past eight years, and far exceed Googles, making it easier, in my opinion, to hold off Google and all comers. If Google falls out of favor with internet users, then that will pretty much end their reign, but it will take much more for Microsoft to go away.
I would love to see Google, or anyone, knock Microsoft down a peg or two. After purchasing(& paying too much)for Windows XP, not only is it practicaly obsolete before you even get out the door but Microsoft seems to think they have the right to tell me what files I can or cannot access. That is like buying a new car & told I can only drive on even numbered streets. I find this disturbing and a frightening sign of things to come. We need to establish a government(?) that oversees and regulates the internet and companies like Microsoft, who in my opinion have too much power over our lives as it is. Wait until the police realize all they have to do is supeona search engines to get pretty much a blueprint of a person, so much for privacy.
I believe its just a figment of imagination of an extremely optimistic person, who could go to
the extent of calling google the future nemesis of Microsoft. Inarguably, google as a corporate
entity has come along a long way in such short duration and their farsightedness and their intellect
compel people to applaud them. Having said that, it in no way takes the sheen out of Microsoft’s
arsenal in their total endeavor to make computer and its useage as easy as 1-2-3.
Not only did they pioneered in inventing computing, they also pioneered in reinventing their
invention to make computing as user friendly as a person could imagine and their past, existing
and future endeavor in this direction is commendeable.
I feel Microsoft is taking due cognizance of whats latest and are surely looking at the new
vistas for exploration and implementation, for which they are a patented success story. Yes, we
can look at the option of who’s better in terms of years to come. Yes i can agree to the extent
that Microsoft might have someone atlast to lookup to in terms of challenge, if at all we could
call that one.