ANOTHER UPDATE: Financial Times reports that Microsoft will release a free, online version of Office to rival Google Docs.
UPDATE: Word is that Google announced the Chrome OS with such little buildup in order to pre-empt a big Microsoft announcement on Monday.
Okay quick post. The ongoing quiet storm brewing between Microsoft and Google has recently flared up.
Microsoft release Bing and gets pretty good reviews.
Google is now saying (quite suddenly) that they are developing an OS based on its lightweight and powerful browser Chrome, which is an even greater surprise since most buzz around the Web was that Google would use its mobile phone OS Android for release on netbooks.
The biggest surprise from all of this is not on Google’s end but on Microsoft’s. Their search is actually good? I’m in absolute shock.
5 responses so far ↓
Michael // July 10, 2009 at 12:05 am |
Rumors of that Google OS have been around for years, literally, but s’ok Doles, you’re new to the scene. Jkjkjkjk
I think we’re all acutely aware of the fact that even if Chrome OS is the best thing to happen to the x86 since 32-bit registers (yeah, I said it), it would take the better part of the remainder of our lifetime to elbow out the thousand-pound gorilla. Makes me wonder if anyone can really topple the M$ giant at this point, and though I suppose if anyone has a chance it’s Google, the momentum of the entire computing planet seems (unfortunately) not in their favor. It’s like trying to ween an entire country’s population off a high-carb low-nutrient diet. Sure, everyone knows pizza, Kool-Aid and Mickey D’s is bad for them, but can you really turn around a barge this large?
Call me bougie, but I’ll stick with slow food and OS X for now.
Ps. Yea, the same is true in reverse: Bing is surprisingly not awful—but dont believe the hype—the verb is not going to become “Bing it” any time soon.
SH // July 10, 2009 at 11:35 am |
Thanks for undercutting any authority I have on my OWN blog, MIKE! But I think something to keep in mind is the difference in monopoly laws between the EU and US. The trade commissions over at the EU are far more wary of industry hegemony. This is purely speculative, but what may happen would be a rather bizarre turn of events: Google may face some legislative pressure from the EU, which would keep MS as dominant as it is. This is because the status quo ante is MS dominance, which the EU could not fully disentangle as it reacted far too late after market penetration. But beyond the politics, I am excited that either side is competing to make various products and services that are FREE. As long as that continues, I’m not too upset.
Michael // July 10, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I cant say I think anti-trust laws are gonna play any really significant role, just as they have not here in the US. Besides, as much as Apple fanboys like myself like to believe Apple is making inroads into the mass market, the real dominance of M$ is in Asia, where they still <3 XP and even Microsoft themselves are having trouble getting people to bite on a new OS. We can only hope though, and yea I completely agree, at the very least, mo competition mo betta.
SH // July 11, 2009 at 8:41 pm |
I disagree that anti-trust laws will not make a difference. Intel recently just paid a gigantic fine in the EU. They have not in the US because of the embedded oligarchy that American capitalism is characterized by (though the Federal Trade Commission has said they are investigating Intel as well). There’s oligarchy in the EU too but to a far less degree. I think you are underplaying the political angle on this. Market dynamics in the US have traditionally been viewed as outside the realm of policy but not so in Europe. And because of that difference in the relation of economy and governance, I think there will be slight though significant differences in how this will play out in the States and in the European Union. Now I couldn’t have said this prior to the formation and passing of the EU constitution in 2004 but there’s nothing like it that is comparable in the world. A commissioning body that regulates multiple economies in a region? NAFTA isn’t like that nor is ASEAN. All this to say, I think there is something to issues of governance in all of this.
pankajunk // August 26, 2009 at 1:34 pm |
Another very important aspect of this battle is the “total collaboration” arena. This means tools which integrated email, document management, collaboration and conferencing features. Google’s poster boy Google Apps represents it in this arena, and Microsoft BPOS represents Microsoft. We had recently created a comparison between these Google and Microsoft products if anyone would like to see.