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Google v. Microsoft
ph43thon writes "The New York Times business section has an article, The Coming Search Wars, about Google and Microsoft. It's fairly long and pretty interesting. Oddly, the writer or somebody out there, seems to think that Google v. Microsoft is analogous to Netscape v. Microsoft. I wasn't aware that you needed to download special software to run this Google search application. Somehow, I don't think Microsoft will find this fight to be as easy."
Microsoft leveraged Windows to popularize IE. They'll try to do the same with MSN, leveraging it to promote their search engine. So there is that similiarity. And Netscape was free, and so is Google, and so that contest should go to whomever has the deepest pockets, but...
Google is different than Netscape in that it is very high quality, something Microsoft isn't likely to match (I am continually amazed at how badly the search engine at microsoft.com sucks) and also because Google actually has a business model, i.e., they have customers, e.g., people willing to pay them money to do stuff.
The way I see it, it's Google's to lose. They can still mess up in execution. They're expanding into other areas very quickly... perhaps too quickly. And they wield a tremendous amount of power in that search engine, so much so that I doubt that the feds haven't already requested "special access" to the query logs, and maybe one day, the power to alter result listings. (Yeah, you'd be laughing if I told you that the feds made Adobe put anti-counterfeiting code in Photoshop too I bet.)
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
Google staff themselves have already shown much progress with little or no serious competition. Their search engine has nothing to do with the old yahoo and altavista that were returning 50% advertisement and 49% uninteresting results.
And sincerely, I doubt Microsoft will come up with anything more efficient that Google.
Progress? That's Google's job. Competition? Microsoft is no competition in this area. Google wins by having a well-thought search system that beats anything else.
Yes, I am biased. Google is "da shit" =)
You are more than the sum of what you consume. Desire is not an occupation.
The main reason it's similar is that MS sees a potential serious competitor within a market it wants to own. MS wants to ringfence the desktop and datacentre market (well, it's got to gain the datacentre market first, but it was on the way to doing that before Linux became popular).
It's the argument that searching is about to become really important to them as a business sales technique - the new filesystem is a database, the integration of a web search engine makes your PC behave like a cache of the 'net. Etc. Owning the 'search' territory will help their marketing significantly, so they'll be serious about trying to get it.
I wouldn't write them off either - just because we all use google now doesn't mean we won't switch at the drop of a hat if something "better" (better can be 'easier to use' rather than 'more appropriate results') comes along. Altavista, anyone ?
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
I use the google toolbar. Last week I got an email from msnbeta to try out the msn toolbar toolbar.msn.com. HEY MSN toolbar and google toolbar look and do the same thing!.
Sorry but I'll stick with google's toolbar.
I think the internet needs google to remain independent from Microsoft, yahoo, Sun, etc...
I definately won't be using a biased search engine. I might go as far as to say censored:
Number of results for the search "linux"
at http://www.google.com/ : "about 12,500,000."
at http://search.msn.com/ : "about 429"
That's way more than a little difference. That's a ratio of about 431034:1.
I'm bored so let's try the same thing with "microsoft":
google: "about 9,470,000"
msn: "about 3856"
This time it's a ratio of about 24559:1 . Draw your own conclusions. At the very least I think msn is just a shitty search.
And yes I'm biased! I LOVE IT!
-- Note: If you don't agree with me, don't bother replying. I won't read it.
The reaction of people like those found on Slashdot if Microsoft actually crafts a search engine that is demonstrably better than Google. Will people ignore that in favor of simple Microsoft bashing, or will they use it and acknowledge its superiority?
Assuming, of course, that Microsoft builds a better search engine, of course.
You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".
The killer moment will be when they make the search experience for files on your desktop much better. I use Google today as my homepage, but the day when I get into the habit of searching for my files using Windows (today, it's not worth the trouble), it's trivial to extend that interface to search the web as well. Unfortunately, I think google does not have a strong, defensible position.
I like Google because it is fast, real fast and uncluttered, but the results are not better that Teoma or AllTheWeb. The link analysis that was unique to Google, 6 years ago, was the real quantum leap forward. But now everybody else has caught up. It appears to me that the differentiation is fast, bug-free quality of service and a clean UI.
Short of another breakthrough from Google, I think Microsoft could still clobber Google. Google has got no stickiness.
i'm proclaiming google the winner because i am actively working against the microsoft search by participating in the boycott
if you have a website and want to participate in the boycott it's darn simple.
User-agent: MSNBOT
Disallow: /
then, sit back in triumph that you have struck another blow to the jugular of the beast of redmond.
no. really.
2 1337 4 u!
A bigger picture you can have is when you look at the investors behind each of Google, AOL, Sun, Netscape, Macromedia, and many more. Kliener Perkins Caufield & Byers is one of the leading Venture Capital firms out here, and they're behind every one of those companies! And they're not shy about talking about the "collective strength and experience" that they encourage among their portfolio.
I think it's really the cultural difference that makes Silicon Valley strong. Companies like Microsoft grow by becoming having zillions of divisions that do some of everything. In the bay area, perhaps no single piece can compete with microsoft as a hole, but the combined plays of all these slighlty related companies really becomes significant. In Microsoft, each of those functions is a division that is shelterd by the parent organization. In Silicon Valley, each is a separate company that has to survive on its own merits. If one fails, and the market segment it focused on is still important, another may be funded to take its place.
Microsofts next launch is absolutely focused on "search". The entire filesystem metaphor in Longhorn revolves around data and association. The 'Stuff like this' (?) demo is a bit like Dashboard, it brings up relevant info from all your personal data, and the internet.
When users are trying to find something like 'funny billy goatse photo' their hard drive and Microsoft's search engine will be used together. Unknowingly, MSN search will be a part of everyday life.
Microsofts next monopoly abuse is pretty clear already, their technology demos show it too. They will integrate and before you can say 'Anti-trust investigation' the world at large will be using MSN search for _everything_ - information is power too.
Keep close tabs on Microsoft's actions, unfortunately when they are punished by EU/USA its too late.
puts ("Python r0cks\n");
a. Go to http://search.msn.com
b. Type in the keywork "linux"
c. Click "Search"
d. Examine the top 2 results:
1. Buy Linux software at the Amazon.com software store.
2. Find great deals on Linux software and accessories. Also find millions of other items in over 18,000 categories.
It was even funnier a few months ago: one of the top search results was some "migrating from Linux to Windows" article.
Microsoft's search engine will undoubtedly be geared towards selling their products and the products of businesses that have a strategic alliance with Microsoft. Doesn't sound like a comprtehensive tool to me.
Cheers
Stor
"Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
For most sites, boycotting MSN now would be like telling a deaf blind person that they can't listen to your music or watch your movies.
Google visits my site once or twice a week. Altavista and Inkomi both make regular monthly visits. MSN has paid someone them for that data, because while I have no record of their site's visit, I can find my site on theirs if I look really specifically.
As for searches, I've had 43 visits thank to google for my piddly non-commercial homepage. Most of my visitors have actually come from Slashdot (unfortunately, my client is not altogether accurate knowing that everything ending in "slashdot.org" is actually the same site, so I don't have an accurate count).
I believe this is a microcosm of how it is for most sites with respect to google and Microsoft: they do not have an effective search engine.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
Simple strategy for MS:
:-( I hope the above never happens.
1) kill all browsers on the most popular computing platform. Result, IE sole available browser (oh, wait, they already did this).
2) make IE automatically point google.* URL requests to msn-search.
QED.
Darn, I just spelled out the obvious. Now the evil doesn't even have the excuse of stupidity
Oddly, the writer or somebody out there, seems to think that Google v. Microsoft is analogous to Netscape v. Microsoft. I wasn't aware that you needed to download special software to run this Google search application. Somehow, I don't think Microsoft will find this fight to be as easy.
This is just like Netscape vs. IE. Just wait until longhorn comes out. MS's search engine will be integrated into windows (where it will undoubtedly function as not only a search engine but it will handle all memory access as well, so it can't be removed). It will have the entire web cached and right there waiting for you. It will then use your spare bandwidth to update itself continuously. Who will want to go all the way to google.com to do a search when the entire web is available right on your own computer? Google is doomed for sure.
~Warning!~ The above is encrypted using rot676!
Put one on the IE menu, and lastly, redirect all entires in the URL bar to MSN search if it isn't a valid URL.
already done. Actually, if you have the address bar enabled in the explorer windows (as I do, since I like being able to switch directories by typing in a new path instead of clicking with the mouse for a while), you discover that there's also an option to "search from the address bar" that needs to be shut off.
Evil, evil, evil. I want 404s or 'not found' or 'invalid path', not MSN Search (or worse one of the 8 million XyzSearch websites that are out there squatting on misspelled domain names...)
Game consoles? Nope. Microsoft Phone? Nope. Interactive TV? Nope. MSN? Nope.
MS is not exactly scoring a 100% with the products it releases. The OS and office suit do well. So do their PDA's although this is because everyone else is really screwing up.
Lets not forget that netscape lost because it couldn't keep up. Linux users will remember being lumbered with Netscape 4.2. Windows users just switched to IE.
So does google loose? Maybe if they screw up but I don't think the bundling thing is going to help MS all that much. MSN is bundled and has so far totally failed to take over the market or turn a profit.
Of course one tiny little detail is that MS doesn't need to make a profit. I cleans out its consumers so much on the OS and office suit it can afford to have several money drains going on at once. MS can afford to screw up countless times. I doubt google has that luxury.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Google an advocate of open source? I don't think so. Can't see any google source anywhere... The approach here is that at a certain point the sale value of code approaches zero. OS code sale price? Zero. Search code price? Non-zero. If MS can add value they will survive, if not then they won't.