MICROSOFT Vs GOOGLE

I know, a predictable (almost tabloid-y) blog headline. but in this case, there really is some intesesting bac and forth going on between microsoft and google curruently- especially with regards to office sowftware.

Firstly googe CEO eric schmidt wrote an article for the economist, in which he takes aìm at microsoft with this:
"in 2007 we'll witness the increasing dominance of open internet standards. as web access via mobile phones grows, these standards will swee aside the proprietary protocols promoted by individual companie striving for technical monopoly. today's desktop software will be overtaken by internet-based services that enable users to choose the document formats,search tools and editing capability that best suti their needs".

Ok he doesn't specifically name microsoft, but it's obvious who is at the top of the list of "individual companies" schmidt is referring to. also not specially mentioned is offibe software, but in this case google's actions speak louder than their words. in recet months we've seen a frurry of product releases and acquisitions in the office space by google-google apps for your domain (a kind of lightweight office suite which includes a start page), the transformation of writely and their online spreadsheet product into google docs & spreadsheet, the acquisition of jotspot... it all points to an increasing emphasis on office sowftware from google.

Nick carr wonders though if schmidt has his timing right-will 2007 be the 'tipping point'? I suspect it will be, because as we noted in our previus post about gooleOS gains significant adoption (which is a gìven, even if it won't be like the old days of people lining up outside stores for the latest windows release), that will put pressure on google's product line. after all, vista will have IE7 as its default browser, live search as default search and live.com as the default homepage (probably). all of this puts the squeeze on google, which is we're predicting 2007 will be the year that google attacks on a lot of fronts. and whether or not believe a googleOS is on the way, it's almost certain that google will put the pressure on with office software delivere over the web.

As dare obasanjo of microsoft notes, "it's represhing to see google stop playing coy and be straightforward about their ambitions." I heartily agree, but I suspect google's actions in 2007 will be much lauder than their words. microsoft needs to step up too, as dare says, so this is going to be a fascinating battle to watch!.