Google to challenge Micro$haft?

From: Happy Thoughts (BogusAddress_at_no.spam.com)
Date: 04/14/04

  • Next message: Erich Trowbridge: "Re: linksys wifi pcmcia card" 
    Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 18:08:59 GMT

    Here's a very interesting article from the LA Times that I think is
    worth reading:

     
    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google14apr14,1,784097.story?coll=la-home-business
    Some See a Challenge to Microsoft in Google's Sites
    By Chris Gaither
    Times Staff Writer

    April 14, 2004

    Is Google Inc. arming itself to challenge Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
    software by developing an operating system that lives on the Internet?

    The closely held search-engine company has been clear that its goal is
    to organize the world's information. But its followers have been seeing
    that lofty mission statement in a whole new light since Google unveiled
    plans this month for a free e-mail service — with enough storage space
    for every user to hoard nearly 500,000 pages of messages.

    The Gmail service, combined with the enormous cluster of computers that
    processes the hundreds of millions of search queries that go through
    Google each day, has some technologists salivating over what the
    ambitious company may do next.

    "Who needs Windows when anyone can have free unlimited access to the
    world's fastest computer running the smartest operating system?" Jason
    Kottke, a website designer in New York, wrote in his Web log at Kottke.org.

    Google executives declined to comment on their plans. "We don't
    speculate about what we may or may not be thinking about in terms of
    projects," said Craig Silverstein, the company's director of technology.

    By all accounts, the Mountain View, Calif., company isn't openly gunning
    for Microsoft. Netscape Communications Corp., whose Web browser
    threatened Windows, made that mistake in the late 1990s and got
    smothered by Microsoft tactics that a federal judge later found violated
    antitrust laws.

    But Google has been quietly building one of the world's largest
    supercomputers, reportedly made of more than 100,000 servers. The
    computing system — running on the free operating system called Linux —
    is becoming a powerful platform that could be put to uses beyond simply
    powering the most popular search engine on the Web.

    "I wouldn't underestimate the audacity of any of the goals the Google
    guys have," said Rich Skrenta, chief executive of a search engine for
    news called Topix.net. "They're big thinkers."

    Google has expanded its early offerings to include searchable news
    feeds, comparison shopping, software for publishing Web logs, a social
    networking service and, now, Gmail.

    Many believe Google's next step will be to use its unmatched processing
    and storage capacity to invite people to house things on its network
    that they normally keep on their computer desktops, such as documents,
    digital photos, spreadsheets and songs. All those files would be
    accessible from any Internet-connected device and easily searchable
    using the technology that made Google famous.

    That could mean trouble for Microsoft. The more you can do on the
    Internet, the less important your PC becomes. Indeed, Microsoft Chairman
    Bill Gates has been worrying about the Internet making Windows less
    relevant since 1995 and has invested billions of dollars in developing
    new Web programs and services.

    "It may be that what's on the Internet is much more important than
    what's on the desktop," said Eric Brewer, a computer science professor
    at UC Berkeley and co-founder of Inktomi, the search engine company
    acquired by Yahoo Inc.

    Microsoft executives declined to comment on the potential threat from
    Google or on plans of their own.

    Marc Andreessen, a Netscape co-founder who serves as chairman of Opsware
    Inc., figures Google will boost its offering of free online storage in
    the next few years from 1 gigabyte for Gmail to as much as 100 gigabytes
    for a much wider range of PC-like services.

    "It's very logical to think Google will add these kinds of
    capabilities," he said.

    Others believe Google may go further. John Battelle, a co-founder of
    Wired magazine who is writing a book on Internet searching, said he
    could envision a Google word processor. Documents could be stored on
    Google's servers, which would allow writers to query helpful reference
    sites while they type.

    Kottke and Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, said Google
    should even be thinking about selling a Google PC. It could run a
    version of Linux with Google's search technology built in and include an
    open-source alternative to the Microsoft Office suite of business
    software. After all, they noted, Google already sells a server computer,
    the Google Search Appliance, that lets firms search their internal or
    public websites.

    Just because Google could feasibly market its own computer or desktop
    software doesn't mean it will. In part, the decision depends on the
    success — or failure — of Gmail. Google plans to pay for the free e-mail
    storage by scanning messages, then displaying ads related to the
    content. Privacy advocates have criticized the practice, and it remains
    to be seen whether consumers will accept it.

    If Google executives intend to expand their online offerings or get into
    the PC business, it wouldn't be wise for them to say so and risk baiting
    the world's most powerful software firm.

    "If they had made that decision, it's entirely in their best interest
    not to tell anybody," Battelle said.

    But the PC strategy could be an effective way for Google to counter
    Microsoft before the Redmond, Wash., goliath strikes at Google. Gates
    has vowed to best Google by building a search engine; if it were built
    directly into the PC desktop, searchers could find information without
    having to open an Internet browser and launch the Google home page.

    "I'm sure the strategic wheels are turning overtime in Redmond,"
    Battelle said.

    They should be, say observers who see Google as a potentially formidable
    foe precisely because it doesn't compete in Microsoft's traditional markets.

    Microsoft executives are in position to understand that better than
    anyone: The software company loosened IBM Corp.'s grip on the computer
    business by recognizing that power rested in controlling PC operating
    systems, not in building computers, said Tim O'Reilly, a publisher of
    technical books.

    "That's one of [Google's] powerful secret weapons," he said. "They're
    not playing by the same rules."

    If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at
    latimes.com/archives.

    Article licensing and reprint options

    Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times 

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