Google vs Microsoft – Rumble or Ramble?
The December 16, 2007 article from the New York Times, has a catchy title to draw the readers attention, trying to make a rivalry between Microsoft and Google. Titled ‘Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft’, one is to conclude that Google is attacking Microsoft on its home turf. Which makes for a great headline. But is Google really attacking Microsoft?
The comparison between what Google is doing with their Google Apps and comparing it with Microsoft’s Office is a far stretch of the imagination. Thinking that Google is actually attacking the software giant by introducing any type of online applications is purely imaginary. In one statement in the article it states:
According to Compete.com, a research firm, Google Docs is gaining popularity. It had 1.6 million users in November, seven times as many as a year earlier. That’s a nice lift, but the Microsoft Office suite, containing programs like Word and Excel, is nearly two decades old and runs on some 500 million PCs.
What isn’t mentioned is how many of those 1.6 Google Apps users still rely on Microsoft Office?
Another part of the article sites some colleges, universities and businesses who have switched over to gmail, another of Google’s offerings. Which reminds me of some of those Linux articles which make a big deal about some bank in Germany dumping Microsoft software and going to open source. The reality is that Linux is not going to put Microsoft out of business any time soon.
Trying to compare what Google is doing to Microsoft doesn’t hold water. The fact remains that we here in the US rank 15th in the world when it comes to broadband access. With about 50% of our population still stuck on dial up connections, it is going to be awhile before everyone flocks over to using the Internet for any type of serious work.
Next is the huge difference between what Google does for a living compared to Microsoft. Google makes their money by selling advertisements. Microsoft makes their’s selling software. Apples vs oranges.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
NY Times article is here.
3 Comments
Teste » Google vs Microsoft - Rumble or Ramble?
December 17th, 2007
at 8:05am
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
AMD Talk » Google vs Microsoft - Rumble or Ramble?
December 17th, 2007
at 8:20am
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe December 16, 2007 article from the New York Times, has a catchy title to draw the readers attention, trying to make a rivalry between Microsoft and Google. Titled ‘Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft’, one is to conclude that … [...]
khoike » Google vs Microsoft - Rumble or Ramble?
December 17th, 2007
at 10:21am
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptThe December 16, 2007 article from the New York Times, has a catchy title to draw the readers attention, trying to make a rivalry between Microsoft and Google. Titled ‘Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft’, one is to conclude that … [...]