The battle of Microsoft and Google
Thursday, February 11, 2010
, Posted by gurur@j at 2/11/2010 12:09:00 AM
The battle of Microsoft and Google
I could start off way back, right at the beginning of the two companies, but I’m not going to, as there would be too much to put into one article. However I will tell you a bit of background to the current situation, and what this means for: Google; Microsoft; Yahoo; and you, the computer user.
- Microsoft’s Story
It all started for Microsoft back in 1975 when the company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. At the time of the birth of Microsoft, there were already other computing companies out there, so if you thought they founded the computer market, you were wrong.
Microsoft introduced a cheap, affordable computer. This took off, and soon the PC (personal computer) dominated the global computing market.
In 2006 Microsoft owned approximately 97% of the computing market. It would appear that it would be impossible to take down this global giant.
In 1998 Microsoft launched its own search engine called MSN search. They hoped that this would be a major player in the search engine market. It wasn’t. At the time, Yahoo was probably the most popular search engine, with most people using it. Google had only been founded two years in 1998, so it wasn’t a major player then.MSN search didn’t go the way Microsoft wanted it too, so Microsoft launched a new search engine called Live Search. At this time, Google owned the largest share of the search market. Live Search also failed – it would appear that there may be a weakness in Microsoft after all. It appeared that Microsoft were not able to conquer the search market.
In 2009 Microsoft scrapped Live Search and introduced Bing, in another attempt to take over the search market. To try and boost their chances, they approached Yahoo, and made a 10 year deal with Yahoo, to join forces and take on Google. As Yahoo are currently also losing their stake in the search market, they accepted.
- Google’s Story
Throughout the years Google had been building up its empire, adding more and more tools for the computer user to make use of. Google has destroyed Hotmail with its Gmail; MSN has been significantly damaged by Google Talk; Microsoft Office is now under threat from Google Apps and Docs. Internet Explorer is also under major threat from Google Chrome.
Basically, Google had slowly been taking bits of Microsoft’s empire, making a better version of them and then giving it to the public. Google now has all the programs and software needed to go into an operating system. So guess what it is planning on making, Google OS (Operating System).Google OS is why I think Microsoft have joined forces with Yahoo to try and take down Google, as Microsoft knows that in everything Google has tried to takeover, it has succeeded. I think Microsoft fear that Google will one day own its share of the computing market, and so to try and stop that, they are trying to damage Google, using another search engine.
This may work, Yahoo and Microsoft may bring down the giant; it may distract Google for a while, whilst Microsoft think of a new plan, but what I think will happen is that Microsoft are going to go down, and they are going to drag Yahoo with them. I will leave you to form your own opinion on what is going to happen.
How It Effects YOU
By Microsoft and Yahoo joining forces it limits the amount of choice you have on where you search.
By Google and Microsoft “going to war” it means that everyone who has a Microsoft computer is under threat, as we might have to change to Google OS if Google wins.
By the rivalry in applications – i.e. Google trying to do its own brand of applications – it gives you more choice on who you go to for your programs.
I will let you make up your mind on who you to win, and what you want to happen.
Thanks for reading!
If you liked this article, and want to find out more about Google, you may want to have a look my Google’s article on my technology blog.
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