Google vs Microsoft

Why are the two digging their teeth into each other’s jugular?

By: PRERNA K. MISHRA, ECONOMICTIMES.COM

It may remind you of the cola wars. But this time it's the mammoth Microsoft and the giant Google clashing and the fizz is spreading for the media to savour.

In the past few months, the two seem to have dug their teeth into each other’s jugular vein. First Google shot the Chrome browser against Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Then came Google‘s Android smart-phone operating system that was clearly to dent Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.

But Microsoft went straight for Google’s heart with Bing, the new search technology.

And finally, the most recent salvo from Google came when it announced that it was planning a computer operating system based on its Chrome browser – sure shot at Billy boy’s ‘Window’.

How does it help the two IT bellwethers to lock horns like this? Is there an untapped market space and thus money in it?

Why would Microsoft shift focus from its main money spinners – Windows and Office and why does Google want to stray from internet ads into the much monopolized world of operating systems and browsers?

A vast majority of Google searches are done on PCs running Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. So would Google really gain from displacing these products?

It seems like a lose-lose situation for both as both companies may take eons to actually get some moolah from their mutually-competing product pursuits. But the reality is that the game is on and the two companies are ostensibly trying to step on each others’ toes big time.

Chrome vs Internet Explorer

Last year, Google unveiled the Chrome browser. It was touted as a tool for users to interact with increasingly powerful Web programs, like Gmail and Google Docs, along with Web applications created by other companies.

Google has been adding capabilities to Chrome. It now runs applications even when a user is not connected to the Internet.

When Google released the Web browser, it was seen as countering the dominance of Microsoft Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.

Today, the number of Web browsers has grown to a dizzying array – from IE, Mozilla’s Firefox, to Apple’s Safari, Opera and others.

So has MS been sitting tight, doing nothing? IE has managed to hold on to its numero uno spot. Recently, it re-enforced its market position by releasing its newest version, IE8.

Searching Strengths

In May, Microsoft unveiled Bing, its new Internet search engine, at San Diego. With the final unveiling of a product that had been MS’s long standing threat to Google, the software giant has finally scratched the tip of the search business which is worth $12 billion in the United States alone.

Microsoft tried to go the other way by training its eye on Yahoo – the second biggest player in search engine and had set aside a whopping $47.5 billion for the Yahoo buy. But the efforts fell on their face.

So finally Bing(o), it unveiled its own search engine and most certainly at a lesser cost.

Today Bing is a distant third in the search race. It would have to triple its audience to catch Yahoo – and grow eightfold to tie Google, which accounts for 65 per cent of searches in the United States. But the beginning has been made.

Breaking Bill's Windows

Google has announced that it is developing an operating system for PCs based on its Chrome Web browser. Google has said in its blog that the operating system would initially be aimed at netbooks, the compact, low-cost.

It said the open-source software, called Chrome OS, would be available in the second half of next year. So is Microsoft biting its nails over the announcement? Who knows.

Microsoft is already feeling the heat of the rise of netbooks that will challenge it’s personal computing software.

So far netbooks have been banking on various versions of the open-source Linux operating system. Companies like Hewlett-Packard and Dell have backed the Linux software.

So could this be the beginning of the end to MS’s monopoly in the OS space? Only time can tell! Meanwhile, Microsoft has started offering its older Windows XP operating system for use on netbooks at a low price.

In addition, the company has promised that the next generation of Windows, Windows 7, due out this fall, will run well on the tiny laptops.

Eating into MS's Mobile Magic!

Google has already developed an operating system for mobile phones, called Android.

Android, introduced last year by a group of companies led by Google, was initially designed to run mobile phones, though developers were increasingly inclined to put it on a wider array of computing devices.

It already powers smartphones like the T-Mobile G1.

A number of companies have also been looking at using Android in larger Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks, set-top boxes, and even televisions, according to Google. Given the proliferation of netbooks and smartphoones, it;’s not a forte that Microsoft will like to accede to Google. So the fight of territory is on.

Microsoft Warming up to Online Collaboration

Microsoft recently announced that the 2010 version of Office will feature online collaboration. Why would this be?

Did Google’s effort to lure computer users to text, spreadsheet, and other applications hosted online unnerve Microsoft? Google has been offering these services at low-cost or even free! Whatever the reason, the key upgrade to widely-used Office is that online hosting will make it possible for users to access projects from any Internet-linked computers and to collaborate online in real time.

According to the company website, Office Web applications will be lightweight, browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote that provide access to documents from anywhere.

Microsoft's current version, Office 2007, allows online collaboration, but not in the real-time manner promised by its successor.

So the billion dollar question is: Is Microsoft fearing that Google Apps - which are part of a growing online trend of offering software as services on the Internet, or "in the cloud," as opposed to people needing to buy, install and maintain programs on their own machines – may be the next killer strategy.

What is in it for the user?

Windows operating system runs about 95 per cent of PCs. Google promises that its Chrome operating system, which will be available on computers in the second half of next year, will put an emphasis on speed, simplicity and security.

But will Google do what IBM and Sun Microsystems tried and failed at?

Google believes that a huge shift in computing is under way - web connections will become so fast and browsers so powerful that most of the programs that currently run on PCs will become redundant. There would be online applications to handle every requirement.

So no installation, upgrade and back up software! And who knows, the war may help lower the cost of personal computers. And finally when it comes to Microsoft, no freeware has so far made a dent in its popularity. Will Google’s attempt bear fruit?