Jul
Ding Ding Ding:
Round 1:
Microsoft and Google enter the ring. Microsoft has been the reigning heavyweight champ for years. But Google has grown in size and strength rapidly and has become one of the top rivals to Microsoft.
Microsoft needs to make a move. It tries to beat Google by taking over Yahoo’s search engine, but fails badly. Now it jabs at Google with its own search engine: Bing. Microsoft scores some points with that one, but the young and strong Google parries the blow and seems unaffected. Instead some competitors in the search engine business to both MS and Google are affected. Microsoft manages to gain some respect in this round but things largely remain unchanged.
Round 2:
Google decides to get back. And boy it does. It lands a strong punch by declaring its intention to launch its own Operating System: Chrome OS. Microsoft has ruled the OS arena for years with Windows. Millions use it and prefer it to other Operating Systems, even to the free ones like Linux. But things are changing. Google, the king of the internet, is trying to lure the customers into its domain. Chrome OS is internet based, not desktop based. Why would you need desktop based applications when we provide you with everything online? Just open the browser (Chrome of course) and we provide all you need: email service, search engine, Google apps with Google Docs, photos with Picasa, music on YouTube, Google maps, you name it we have it and for free!!! Google wins round 2 hands down. Microsoft is shaken but tries to regroup.
Round 3:
Microsoft gets back at Google with a hook. To counter the free online applications like Google Docs and other software, it declares that the other weapon in its profit making arsenal, MS Office, will be free as part of Microsoft’s Windows Live service, which has more than 400 million users, when the new Office 2010 is launched next year. The public is not exactly sure whether Microsoft deserves any points for this. After all, it’s giving away its major revenue earner for free! Yes, there have been other free equivalents to Word, Excel and PowerPoint like Google apps, Zoho and SlideShare. But they have not created any dents to Microsoft’s market share. But Microsoft knows that there are an increasing number of users who are opting for these free online applications. Adobe and Cisco are also planning to provide online equivalents to MS Office. If MS does not act now, it will lose the edge. MS also makes it clear: Only the online Office 2010 versions will be free. You can use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One-Note free online but to use it on the desktop, you need to buy it. And of course not all features will be available in the online version. These include ability to broadcast PowerPoint presentations over the web, edit video in PowerPoint and manipulate images in Word to name a few. Also in addition to revenue that will be earned through the sales of the full Office 2010 packages, MS will earn considerable money through advertising on its online applications. MS makes a good comeback. Its stocks go up. Round 3 goes to Microsoft. And the showdown continues……
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
- Microsoft back with a BING?
- How Google has always managed to be on top
- Search Engine, Computational Knowledge Engine & Decision Engine!
- Where are Search Engines headed?
- Wolfram Alpha – A threat to Google?
- Bookmark :
- Digg
- del.icio.us
- Stumbleupon
- Redit it
12 Responses to “Google v/s Microsoft: The Showdown Continues…….”
Subscribe!
Round 2)
Why would you need desktop based applications when we provide you with everything online?
The Web based Applications still can’t Offer a lot of things.. notably persistence, Speed, Responsiveness etc..
Web applications can not take the place of all Desktop Applications yet.
> Videos and Multimedia: No Web Application is good enough…
> Bandwidth is still an issue..
> Gaming Web Apps can’t compete.
> IDE’s I use Eclipse for Programming, No Web application can achieve this yet..
I think there would be hundreds of areas where Web based Applications can’t beat Desktop Applications..
Web may add values to your App by storing Data Online and synching it with your local copy..
@anup – excellent article! Its indeed a boxing match, but are you sure Google and Microsoft are alone in this tournament. I feel there are other biggies as well who are lurking around with potential. – most notably Facebook and Apple.
@Bijoy – As of now, what you say is true. But in future, perhaps with the advent of 3G, these problems would cease to exist. Perhaps 2 yrs from now, your startup screen would directly be a browser like IE/ FF or Chrome….
As Siddhesh said, with rapid changes in technology, in the near future you might really be using your desktop only to start the browser and then on access all applications.
@Siddhesh, sure Apple is one of the biggies, and has been in competition with Microsoft way before Google came along. But Google is proving to be a very stiff competition to Microsoft like never before. About Facebook, I am not sure how that comes into competition with these biggies. Isnt that only a social site for now?
Excellent read, and a very novel approach.
And @ Anup, wasn’t google only a search engine when it started out? 1 in 6 internet users uses facebook now, that gives them an unprecedented amount of reach.
Nice article….Everything is so perfect including comments also….
Would like to have people’s opinions about Chrome vs Windows 7, considering how Windows 7 will be pushing the Windows Live package to the home user in a big way, including going after social networking in a big way
@sidhesh Hey My name is not pronounced as
Bijoy…
It’s bijay…
Not the Bengali tone…
Am not really a Bengali..
I still think it won’t be achieved in the next 2 Years…
But Yes, we are moving in that Direction…
i think this whole Google vs Microsoft thing is becoming too cliched.
I think somethings going to push both companies aside.
Well…not it terms of market share.
But in terms of “blogopshere buzz” if u will.
Personally..either Google, or Microsoft, or someone else…is going to do something thats going to be the talk of the town soon.
Well ok..take that as my wishlist!!
i am bored of the Google vs Microsoft thing!!!
The turf on which this fight is taking place is not really a desktop/laptop. Chrome is primarily going to target netbooks, the cheap and lightly loaded laptops, if you will…and with Windows 7 previewing to rave reviews, this is going to be an interesting battle for market share. Obviously the advantage Microsof’s 7 will have is it’s capability for all minds of machines.
…and if I presume correctly, netbooks are going to be additional machines for most users and hence it would make more sense to have the same OS on your home PC, your office laptop and your new trendy netbook.
Trying to save your job with these petty tactics now, eh?
IT WON’T WORK! I REFUSE TO SELL MY SOUL TO THE EVIL MACHINES! MICROSOFT IS JUST A FRONT FOR SKYNET! FREE WILLY!!!
On topic: Read a lot over the weekend about the capability of Windows 7 and something just kept nagging me, is Bing going to sweep the floor with google? Most of the Live package is connected to Bing one way or the other, and lets face it, Google Chrome didn’t do as well as people said it would (not that big a loss to google, since Mozilla uses google by default anyways)