NYT On Google As The New Microsoft

[dannysullivan]

Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain is an interesting revisit to an odl theme that seems to be picking up speed -- Google as the new Microsoft. Think they are growing too dominant in everything? Think even if they are, they'll be the "nice" version of Microsoft?

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

Think even if they are, they'll be the "nice" version of Microsoft?

Funny enough, I personally see it the other way around today - the more evil Google gets the nicer MS looks

I also find a few of the issues raised in the article quite funny, such as the issue of getting venture capital in the Valley, raised by Craig Donato

"When I meet with venture capitalists, or if I'm engaged in a conversation about going into partnership with someone, inevitably the question is, 'Why couldn't Google do what you're doing?"

I can think of at least one HUGE area of online business that Google is most likely not going to enter: Spamming Google I was thinking of adding "Scamming Adsense" but Google already do that

[PhilC]

Google is still a small company when compared with Microsoft. The reach it has for its products is small when compared with Microsoft. Microsoft sells software and operating systems for almost every computer in the world, whereas Google can't sell any software, and can only aim at a much smaller market to give their software to. In that smaller market, only a minority of people actually accept the freebies.

Google has already passed its peak in search dominance, and it only ever dominated in non-profitmaking search, whereas Microsoft dominates the world's computers. Microsoft dominated the world's computer even before they got involved in the Internet, and that hasn't changed. There just isn't any comparison between the two companies, imo.

[projectphp]

Does Silicon value have the trend and perception setting power the article talks about? I wouldn't be surprised, but it is an interesting observation that Google inflating the Salaries of Software engineers in the Valley is perceived as a bad thing by many! If that is the case, those trend setters must be VCs and startups, which puts the power in the hands of very few indeed!

[hiero]

When was the last time that Microsoft sent you a check every month for an Ad account or anything else for that matter (not including class action lawsuits, sorry)....hmmmm.....lets see, oh I know....never. I do however recall sending Microsoft money on numerous occasions for their services and products.

Google knows how to make us feel good, and once Microsoft gets that recipe then maybe the pendulum can change. The feel good pendulum that is.....

[PhilC]

I wouldn't have thought that Microsoft wants the pendulum to change. They are a very big company, making loads of money, and Google isn't - not by comparison.

[hiero]

Originally Posted by PhilC

I wouldn't have thought that Microsoft wants the pendulum to change. They are a very big company, making loads of money

You're right PhilC, but it's all relative.....and u never know David could meet Goliath....whose to say what the future holds.

BTW I am a Microsoft stock holder, so it's not that I dislike Microsoft, (As I sit here on my WinXP Machine) Bill Gates is a marketing genius, but Google still has the feel good factor.

[Reflect]

Think they are growing too dominant in everything?

Yes and no. I think they are in the building phase. Trying new ideas to see what sticks and what doesn't. The ones that stick will slowly emass and then I think dominance will follow.

Where I fear the dominance will come into a power struggle with MS will be over the local desktop. I am not talking OS level but applications that reside on the workstation. I also think they are going to make a nice knot of money selling data at whatever point in time. Sure they do not collect identifiable data but think about what they can/do most likely have in those DBs. Search terms (Ok not a big deal), contextual ads serverd on G Mail, AdSense data, desktop search, IM data, sitemap data.

I think they are building a goldmine of marketing data IMHO.

Just a low level view from this cube .

Take care,

Brian

[NFFC]

Similar, in fact strikingly similar article in today's Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...555928,00.html

Amazing how people on different sides of the world have the same thoughts at the same time. For some reason the phrase "big boys games, big boys rules" springs to mind.

[seobook]

Originally Posted by NFFC

Amazing how people on different sides of the world have the same thoughts at the same time.

well at least when they are that common it is a form of attribution, although most people probably do not pick up on it

[Everyman]

Speaking of NYT, here's a well-written op-ed on the same topic, by Randall Stross, with particular reference to the Eric Schmidt/CNET debacle, and also to Google's copyright problems:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/te...gy/28digi.html