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Is AOL The Key to Microsoft 'Killing' Google?
VK writes "When Steve Ballmer yelled at a departing Microsoft employee that he would "kill Google" we had no idea just how direct a method he had in mind. Buying all or part of AOL may be the first part of the master plan, as Google relies heavily on the advertising pages that come from AOL, since it now syndicates its search to Google." Update: 09/23 19:20 GMT by J : As our readers pointed out, the original and Reg reprint both typoed "Yahoo" for AOL. Fixed.
The main reason this can't work, is that Google already owns the mindshare of the internet. You can't buy what Google has going for it, IMHO. Consider the mindshare that AOL has...
People who don't like computers or the internet buy AOL, because they think they have to. They think it's the internet.
So Microsoft is going to waste billions on AOL. *tries to contain glee*
Microsoft can certainly buy that client base. They can milk it for all it's worth for maybe even ten years.
As information becomes more and more readily available online, as people read blogs and learn the way of the force, they change. They learn to despise the despots and the weasels. They retaliate.
And this lesson is something that Balmer et al have never understood. They aren't evolved enough to get it. So they buy it, but they can't possibly buy what Google has, and that is what's driving them crazy.
Microsoft needs a whole new mindset if they want to compete in this market, and it's not going to happen.
And as a final note on this deal-based waterfront, FTA: AOL has been losing subscription customers rapidly, which is why it recently switched its business from purely subscription based to increasingly advertising-based.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
this is a classic example of a company that is running low on the innovation batteries so it has to rely on buying out competitors to try and crush their opposition rather than working on new an innovative ways of moving the industry or product line forward.
At the end of the day ill pay all my advertising money to anyone BUT a microsoft or timewarner.
When Steve Ballmer yelled at a departing Microsoft employee that he would "kill Google" we had no idea just how direct a method he had in mind. Buying all or part of AOL may be the first part of the master plan, as Google relies heavily on the advertising pages that come from Yahoo, since it now syndicates its search to Google.
Copied verbatim from the first paragraph of the linked article.
Just a little originality would be nice...
My pics.
AOL has a huge customer base, but has been steadily eroded as telecoms roll out broadband to the sticks, and this is not really going to change. AOL has a reputation for sucking, and google has a reputation for being both smart and effective. Microsoft buying AOL just combines the strengths of two successful, or should I say "suckcessful" companies who have more or less reached their apex and do not have the same potential for rapid, sustainable growth as they did when they were rising stars in the industry. They're now bloated, hulking monstrosities desperately clinging to their marketshare and experiencing problems trying to remain relevant.
If this is google's biggest threat, they have little to fear.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Huh? I suppose i could read the article but i'm just going to comment on the actual slashdot description..
What does MS buying part of AOL have to do with Google having advertising pages on Yahoo?
Is that like how like the AOL/TimeWarner merge caused my grilled cheese to burn?
p.s. slashdot with css is freaky, but i like it!
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Yes,it's called Antitrust. Named law is meant to avoid the creation of such a giant entity that could potentially, based on it's "dominant position", alter the market.
Apple iProduct. Non importa cosa sia, lo comprerete!
"Is AOL the Key to Microsoft Killing Google?"
"Killing Google"? I think you misspelled "not competing effectively with Google, by purchasing a struggling enterprise with massive consumer illwill that adds to Microsoft's bloat and lack of focused direction."
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
And, MSN Inc. would have to compete fairly with its competition from Yahoo and Google
You misspelled "go bankrupt within a month of it not being the default homepage."
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
Parent is on the right track: Google has forward momentum, a positive Karma of the internet. Google does what you want it to do (find stuff) and stays out of the way. That's a big plus when you just want to get things done. Outside of search, Google seems to be one place where fresh ideas originate in rapid succession, even if a lot of those ideas never materialize. These new ideas, good or bad, still don't get in the way of their core product, which is still fast and stays out of the way.
Microsoft is in the opposite situtation. They've stalled and in many ways, are slipping backwards. They are widely seen as the behemoth, to the point that you don't have to even read the latest security warning to know that it's from another "Buffer Overflow" problem. Office hasn't done anything inventive in years, except for Clippy. Business users (the ones who actually pay for it) are getting the idea that new versions of Office don't do anything new but do screw up the UI enough that it's not worth the trouble to upgrade. These paying users are steadfastly not paying anymore by sticking with the 2k generation of products. New sales of MS Windows and Office are driven mostly by new computer sales, but some businesses are just moving the software and licenses over from retired systems.
XBox has done well, but it has a different appeal and is becoming its own division, anyway.
AOL is another old behemoth, and if AOL and Microsoft want to hold on for dear life together, so be it. It won't help either one.
Namely, that people are growing smarter and that smarter (by this faction's definition) means people will see Microsoft and AOL for being shams and suddenly see the light and adopt the (sadomasochistic) ways of Linux.
Excuse me while I open a window and laugh.
Car manuals that put the New York Yellow Pages to shame for size and are competitive with sets of encyclopedias have been on the shelves of libraries for years. People know less and less every year about their cars. They know less and less every year about most things because the people who know more and more tend to be doing their jobs correctly: they make it work, and they make it work transparently to the user as to the guts of the process.
You don't need to know how a mainframe works to do your banking, you need not know how a cash register works to buy something. You need not know what an unsigned integer is to compose a letter on a word processor. Windows is easy to use. AOL is easy to use. Put them together and you have the all around ease of use killer setup for home users.
Once again, the tail does not wag the dog. Your kids at school do not control your PC buying decisions and if they did Apple would be the only brand in the USA and there'd be NO Internet as it back then DID NOT fit into Apple's (Job's) worldview. Your average anti-corporate anti-conformity geek in the IT department does not control the corporate PC buying decisions and if they did, we'd all be using BSD command line only boxes. The general "I don't care how it works, I just want it to work" public controls the market.
Sorry to burst your fanciful bubbles, but the Tyranny of the Masses has been the rule and not the exception since before Hannibal crossed the Alps. We can just bring it to you faster and more efficiently than the Roman populace ever could to their wrongly pontificating intellectuals.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Fanatically anti-fanatical
Is so Microsoft can own ICQ and AIM. They don't want Google winning IM, so this kills two birds with one stone: present a credible competitor for anti-trust monitors while taking over most of the IM market. I'm not sure Microsoft won't ruin the advantage they gain with this, however. Turning everything into MSN isn't everyone's idea of IM heaven. Who cares about the subscribers? It's the network infrastructure and IM audience they want for Microsoft Internet.
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
They became a monopoly.
This is like if Target wanted to "kill" Saks Fifth Avenue. So they buy Kmart.
Seriously, Microsoft is primarily concerned with Google because I think deep down they fear that Google will decide to hop into their much more lucrative fields (i.e. Operating Systems and Office Suites). Microsoft is fighting a losing battle online. They got a late jump on the internet. Everything they have tried online, from webmail, to messenging to internet service started too late and could not compete with AOL (as much as I hate saying that) and now losing to broadband.
Look at sights used for web searches and of the major ones, MSN has to be one of the least used. I am sure some people do not mind the clunky and overloaded website design, but most people I know prefer the cleaner google, or heck even Yahoo is typically cleaner in appearance then MSN.
MSN Messenger is quite seriously a joke. Here is a service that few people really use. AOL IM stills has the majority share here as well since they were one of the original IM services. They also bought up another "original", ICQ. Yahoo, I believe is probably 2nd in the IM race and has a strong support base from its e-mail service and people who use Yahoo as a primary search tool.
I think Microsoft needs to stop worrying about trying to make too much money off of their web-based applications and continue to focus on their bread-winners, Microsoft Windows (TM) and the Office series. Quite simply these bring in more money, and there is no real foreseeable end to the need for Operating Systems and Office suites. But in typical fashion, they will try to buy their way into a market and be the anti-thesis to innovators.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
They can't. This is the power of Open Source - once you've sent it out into the world, you can't call it back. Very handy in situations like this.
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
Moving MSN into Products and Platforms means, they are now under direct supervision of Bill. MS has aggressive work culture while AOL is packed with laid-back typical corporate Americans. Bill will first fire Ballmer if he bought AOL or they will buy AOL minus it's lousy employees.
'cus the way google is going, buying up dark fibre and installing wifi access, it's pretty obvious that they want to provide services direct to users and bypass the ISPs entirely.
MS may end up buying AOL just at the time when it becomes irrelevant.
So much as the implementation. At its core, Netflix isn't doing anything other than what libraries and rental shops have been doing for decades. What makes Netflix different is their execution of the business model: good selection, prompt service, decent price.
Yes, it was Compaq's 386, and IBM's poor strategy, that benefited Microsoft. IBM made many mistakes, for great reading see Robert X. Cringley's Accidental Empires book. Among the problems - IBM underpowered the original IBM PC, and then was slow bringing out the 386. They tried to make the hardware proprietary, by using the 'Microchannel' architecture, the market didn't buy it and went with Compaq's 386 architecture instead.
So the whole innovation deal, that open source just copies, but doesn't innovate, is baloney, one only needs to look at Microsoft. Which came first, Turbo Pascal or Visual Basic? Mosaic or Internet Explorer? Java or C#? ln -s or Microsoft's smart links? etc etc.
But this whole innovation argument is annoying Microsoft FUD. Rather, Microsoft seems to follow the kaizen model, i.e. constant improvement - look at Windows 3.1 to Win 95 to Win XP. And Visual Studio is a great IDE. And this is exactly the situation with Google. I think we'll see Microsoft improve, just as Windows has improved with Linux competition, and C# is an improvement on VB with Java competition, however just like these apps won't be destroyed, neither will Google, since it's outside the realm of MSFTs desktop realm.