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Is AOL The Key to Microsoft 'Killing' Google?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wow-this-one-is-getting-overused dept.

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.

17 of 406 comments (clear)

  1. That'll Never Work by mfh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

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    1. Re:That'll Never Work by garcia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      Exactly. The rest of the computer industry needs to be less worried about why Google is buying up talent and needs to start being more concerned with how they are going to buy up their own talent and put those people to work doing something that's new and exciting.

      Microsoft needs to stop playing catch up and dominate. They need to become successful innovators for the first time since the 1980s. Then they might have a chance at getting back in the game with Google.

    2. Re:That'll Never Work by hungrygrue · · Score: 5, Insightful
      People who don't like computers or the internet buy AOL, because they think they have to. They think it's the internet.
      Then it would be a marriage made in heaven. These are the same people who run Windows because they have to, and they think that it is part of their computer. In fact most of them currently think that IE is "the internet".
    3. Re:That'll Never Work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The main reason this can't work, is that Google already owns the mindshare of the internet.

      Sir, I have Netscape and Lotus 123 on a conference call. They said they wanted their excuse back.

    4. Re:That'll Never Work by Himring · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      I like everything you have to say except for that. To quote Bullet Tooth Tony, "Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity." People are, and always will be, stupid. To quote Hitler, "It is fortunate for leadership that people are so stupid" (I think I got that right). It usually takes something really huge to make the masses understand. It has to be flagrant because, otherwise, people just don't get it and never will. Google is popular because it's useful to both the elite and the simple. I can use it as a hardcore geek and my mom can too who is the worst computer user ever born. Also, never underestimate Microsoft. I would say more, but I don't wanna sit in timeout again....

      --
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    5. Re:That'll Never Work by ChrisF79 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I really have to disagree with you. You're looking at what Google is now and what AOL is now. I'm sure the marketing teams at Microsoft have a plan for turning AOL into what they want it to be. That having been said, I think it would take a lot of time to completely change the image of an existing company, but it has been done in the past and could be done again. FYI, Black and Decker did this with their DeWalt brand. Construction guys wouldn't use Black and Decker products at all because they had this cheesy "at home" use to them and it was purely an image thing. So Black and Decker spun off the DeWalt brand and gave it more of a jobsite feel. Next thing you know, construction workers were using DeWalt power tools and loving them, even though they were Black and Decker products with a new name and painted yellow. Admittedly, every case is different, but Microsoft could surely change the image of AOL with the right marketing and new approaches to AOL's business.

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    6. Re:That'll Never Work by rben · · Score: 5, Interesting

      While I don't particularly fear for Google, we should all be concerned about the fact that Microsoft, which has twice been convicted of anti-competitive practices, and barely flinched at it's 'punishment', is now gleefully declaring that it's going to destroy another competitor.

      This latest goal of Balmer's shows that the company still isn't interested in competing through innovation, as they keep claiming, but through destroying any company that gets in their way.

      Somehow, this smells like monopolistic behavior to me, though somehow, I doubt we'll see our government do anything about it.

      --

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    7. Re:That'll Never Work by jav1231 · · Score: 5, Funny

      So what exactly are they gaining?
      Ballmer: "MWAHHAHAHA! We'll buy AOL and make them all use Windows and IE!"
      Sidekick: "Uh, Sir? They already use Windows and IE. AOL refused to port AOL to Linux and abandoned their own browser and signed agreements with us to use IE!"
      Ballmer: "Oh."
      Sidekick: (under his breath) "Ass..."

    8. Re:That'll Never Work by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Funny
      OK, I give up. Refresh my memory. *What* did Microsoft innovate in the 1980's?

      Abusive market practices.

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  2. Yahoo threw in the towel?? by Fahrvergnuugen · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFA:
    ...Google relies heavily on the advertising pages that come from Yahoo, since it now syndicates its search to Google.

    I think they meant:
    Google relies heavily on the advertising pages that come from AOL, since it now syndicates its search to Google.

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  3. Microsoft and AOL's REAL plan to "bury" Google by xmas2003 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Microsoft buys AOL
    Sends all "free AOL CD's" to Google.
    After a few months, Google is buried in CD's.

    P.S. Remember the days when AOL floppies were actually useful since you never had to buy any? I actually had a useful purpose for an AOL CD cover recently as a free viewport on an outdoor webcam box.

    --
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  4. Cool! by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny

    It looks like the new CSS-driven slashdot has got a Random Slashdot Headline generator built into it!

    Look out tomorrow for "Is <$NOUN> the Key to Microsoft Killing <$RIVAL>?"
    Of course, in actuality, tomorrow's headline is likely to be "Is AOL the Key to Microsoft Killing Google?" again

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  5. Worked so well for Time-Warner by Fastball · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, wait...

  6. Google doesn't bother... by knopf · · Score: 5, Interesting
    During their A.M. Turing award lecture, Vint and Bob discussed and mentioned several times that it is virtually impossible to change parts of the Internet's underlying structures (e.g., the IP protocols), because the industry and standards are too strong. They mentioned that their luck was at the beginning to be left alone and be able to do anything they want. The standards came afterwards.

    Now guess what:

    Vinton Cerf works for Google now. Google wants to become a provider and they buy their own communication cables for an alternate internet. Ergo, Google will allow Vint to create a new Inernet protocol, which will have a number of features, which will make AOL/Microsoft cannot provide.

    Of course, AOL/Microsoft can buy the market share, but if Google's protocols and Internet is the next generation, then Google will get its market share. And there is nothing that AOL/Microsoft can do about that.

  7. "Killing" by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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
  8. Headline is backwards, anyway by smose · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Perhaps it should read: Is AOL the Key to Microsoft 'Killing' Microsoft?

    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.

  9. Re:Why "Kill" Google? by tbannist · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Microsoft wants to kill google for a number of reasions:
    1. Google is getting more positive attention than Microsoft
    2. Google is a poster-child for the successful deployment of Linux
    3. Google doesn't buy (many) Microsoft Products
    4. Microsoft can't buy Google
    5. Microsoft fears anything that has to do with computers that they can't buy
    6. Smart people who rather work for Google than Microsoft
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