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Google's Patents Reveal Strategy To Beat Microsoft

linumax writes "According to 'The Google Legacy,' history is about to repeat itself. From the article: 'Microsoft today is where IBM was years ago. And Google is in a position to do to Bill Gates what he did to IBM. The result could be a new industry kingpin. Arnold, author of The Google Legacy, said in an interview this week that it appears that Microsoft doesn't understand Google in much the same way that IBM didn't understand Microsoft 20 years ago. "It will be the Googleplex from 2004 to 2020 - a network paradigm," said Arnold. "It will be enabled by Google's approach to innovation."'"

15 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. Not really accurate by arkham6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Comparing MS and IBM is flawed imo. IBM was the big company before the rise of personal computers that felt it was unstoppable in its world, and did not have the foresight to see that personal computing would someday overtake server style computing. They truely thought that only big corporations would need computers.

    MS on the other hand is aware, paranoid actualy that they will be dethroned. While their leaders may act out in stupid and juvinile ways (throwing chairs anyone?), they are aware of the problem and will fight tooth and nail to keep from being dethroned.

  2. Am I stupid for not seeing this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft write an operating system and Office suite - their cash cows.

    Google's cash cow is google adwords and google adsense.

    Where's the competition between the two? where's the overlap in markets with REAL income, not late 1990s tech bubble crap that doesn't actually bring in $$ to the companies.

    1. Re:Am I stupid for not seeing this? by Asphixiat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      for argument's sake - lets assume google make _some_ AJAX word processor..... you'd be able to run the app locally, as perhaps it's open source....bundled with apache? for a local server on the corp LAN? and the public can use the AJAX app on line, and save onto their desktop....on windows, or Ubuntu? Mac or Cell phone, blackberry? Or into their google internet 2Gb storage? Let's hope they use OASIS

      Man, the app - if open sourced - could even be branded with a school logo, or corporate mascot/symbol/porn star :) The webapp doesnt have to save remotely at all if the user doesn't want to, thats why AJAX rocks, POSTs and GETs dont require you to reload the page when you choose an item from a combo box, and other nice UI features that ....until now.... have been taken for granted exclusivly on the PC. Just type away, mail merge from your address book (you have google mail too right?)

      I too am hopeful for the future, but MS could aquire Adobe/Macromedia, and achieve the same result with flash paper....but I would trust Google's webapp over MS's if I was choosing which software to deploy in that type of environment. Add google desktop search, integrated with related searches online.....Google might also have a retail ISP B2B style, where they provide coffee shops with WiMax, but maybe that would be phase 2 :)

  3. Google Patents by Frankie70 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From TFA
    "In a broader sense, Arnold believes Google is building a "patent fence around search" technology as the firm moves to codify its unique competitive advantage."

    Is this good or bad?

  4. History never repeats itself! by Nahooda · · Score: 4, Interesting

    During my studies in history I've learned that history _never_ repeats itself. Simply because if there's a situation _similar_ to one from the past there are a lot of factors that are simply completely different.

    Regards,

    Dennis B. Schramm

    --
    Sigs suck!
  5. Microsoft can kill Google any time they want to. by Andy_R · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Simply ship Internet Explorer with a adblock feature that blocks Google's ads, then Google's revenue stream gets turned off overnight.

    --
    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
  6. Google and Privacy by HateBreeder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wasn't really worried about Google's intentions until I've seen the latest "features" they added to their homepage.

    You might have noticed the: "Personalized Home" thing at the top left of your browser.
    In order to implement this feature, Google, obviously needs to know who is actually looking at the page, so that it could then personalize it - therefore, you need to "Sign In" to use the page.
    To me, this seems like a way to masquerade their true intentions.
    By "Signing in" you're actually letting Google know more information then it requires...
    You're not only "Personalizing" their homepage, but you're actually creating a mapping between a "user" and a "search".
    In other words, Google would now have the ability to know (same account as GMail) which user looked for what - beyond GMail (where they know what each user read).
    If you combine all this data, you get a HUGE database containing personal information.
    You'd be surprised how much one could learn just by looking at another person's search queries.
    I'm sure that in the following years Google would unveil many more features that would practically lead to them having access to ALL of our personal information.
    They're just taking it slowly, one step at a time.

    This seems to me like a privacy nightmare.
    Are we to let Google have all this information, while we sit aside, hoping they'll protect our data based solely on our good faith?

    Remember, that by not using their services, you're private information is not protected.
    It's enough that 1 person would have your contact information on his GMail account, another would have your e-Mail and some questions you asked. Google would just have to cross-refer and find whatever they like.

    --
    Sigs are for the weak.
  7. shifting value: hardware, software, services by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Interesting
    IBM thought they were king because they thought hardware was the real source of value. MS proved them wrong as Windows/Office software became the standard and PCs became commodities.

    MS thinks they are the king because they think software is the real source of value. Google is out to prove that services (search, gmail, froogle, adwords, etc.) are the real source of value.

    MS knows this and is trying to get into services, but I wonder if MSN search et al are the OS/2 of the day -- a dinosaur's attempt to compete on a changed playing field.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
  8. Re:I don't think so by HikingStick · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Does Google have Google OS? No.
    Does Google have Google Office? No.
    Does Google have free email? Yes.
    Does Google have a search system? Yes


    I believe these questions need some revision:

    Does Google need an OS? No!That's the real beauty and the real threat of Google. Microsoft still assumes that everything needs an OS. Google is proving time and again that the OS is nothing in the long run. Google is acting on something Microsoft considered a threat 10+ years ago--that the Internet may become an OS unto itself (not in the true sense of OS, but in the sense that its platform negates the need to run a proprietary OS like Windows).
    Does Google have the technology to release Google Office? Yes! Blogger already shows that you don't need a client app to have a robust word processor. The same is true for spreadsheets, presentations, and messaging (which they already have). The weak link would appear to be a DB, but the deployment of a web-based database engine would not be too difficult for them.
    Can Google enhance it's email system to provide the functionality of Outlook? Yes.
    Does Google have a better search system? Yes!
    --
    I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
  9. Will we hate this new Kingpin? by Brad1138 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We all like to hate & bash the big guy, Microsoft, Intel, Wallmart... Will we hate Google? Is it possible for a company to be the biggest and not be hated, bashed or vilified?

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  10. What may come to pass ..... by Ex-MislTech · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1) Web based office suite - Web based total office solution .

    2) IpSCSI RAID storage and remote backup or a variant thereof .

    3) GoogleNET - Dark fiber is currently being bought by them nationwide - the extent of this is not known.

    4) GoogleWIFI - currently a pilot project in bay area, may roll out nationwide

    5) Google IpTV - Multicast/Broadcast video streams that work thru their google video player .

    If 3 of 5 of these fly it is a doomsday scenario for more than just M$ .

    They could become the fastest growing ISP in the US, and could displace cable and satellite TV .

    I don't know if they want to go this big out of the gate, but the google video player debut
    of the matrix sequel played smooth as glass here at my house via the net .

    A long shadow could be cast, and the great would tremble, and a new sun rises over google, heheh .

    Peace,
    Ex-MislTech

    --
    google "32 trillion offshore needs IRS attention"
  11. Re:(Something insightful goes here) by RoLi · · Score: 4, Interesting
    And while xbox is a money loser in theory, it is now accepted in the marketplace which is the major hurdle (dreamcast anyone).

    Are you working at Microsoft marketing or are just too young to remember the Dreamcast?

    If you don't know, Dreamcast was made by SEGA, which was one of the most accepted companies in the marketplace, so "acceptance" surely wasn't it's problem.

    The reasons Dreamcast failed was:

    • PS2 came with DVD-player, Dreamcast didn't (just like PS3 will come with BluRay and XBox360 won't)
    • Dreamcast used a cheap-to-develop but expensive-to-manufacture off-the-shelf desing (just like XBox1 & XBox360) while the PS2 used a highly optimized design which is hard to develop but drives down the cost per unit
    • Sega thought that Windows CE and it's APIs would make it sooo easy to port games and there would be a load of games (Oh, yet another XBox-analogy) but in real life PS2 had much more games
    • Sega thought that backwards compatibility isn't important, PS2 is fully backwards compatible which is a bid advantage (Oh, again XBox360 is only compatible to "top-selling-games" whatever that is supposed to mean)
    • And of course Sega had bad timing: They launched only a short time before PS2 and the PS2-hype caused many potential buyers to wait for both consoles and decide then - of course at that time the Dreamcast was already old and PS2 was brand-new. (Microsoft actually believed their own marketing lies and thinks that launching before the PS3 will help them.)

    Of course Microsoft made some stupid mistakes on top of all this:

    • Bill Gates said that there "may" be a HD-DVD version at a later time. Now a lot of buyers will wait for that version, so XBox360 sales will be even lower
    • They pissed NVidia off so badly that NVidia didn't even bid for the XBox360 contract. ATI was the only contender and Microsoft had to accept their terms.
    • They released Halo2 just 1 year before the XBox360 launch. Those who bought a XBox1 at christmas04 are very unlikely to get a XBox360 at christmas05.
    • They gave away their only advantage: The only advantage the XBox1 really had compared to the PS2 was that it was newer and technically superior (at least in some areas). Anyway the PS2 was "old" and the XBox1 was "new and cool". With the PS3 being released *AFTER* the XBox360, XBox360 will be "old" and PS3 be "new and cool".

    XBox360 looks like Dreamcast3 to me. They will continue to lose as much or even more money on it than with XBox1.

    People are drooling waiting for the next one and I imagine by the time the 3rd generation comes out MS will own the market completely (if Sony and Nintendo's blunders continue apace).

    Sony's blunder? PS2 is the most successful console of all time and it sold about 4 times as many units as the XBox.

  12. Re:$180 for a PDF by jtgeibel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is just some guy trying to sell a book. The "news article" is just some publisher trying to draw on the hype around Google to sell this book. The book is actually only available in .pdf format and according to the publishers site is: "Written for business readers, especially senior executives of mid to large-sized, knowledge-based corporations".

    Reading the free sample chapter it is even more apparent that most of the claims he uses to back up his argument just don't make sense. For example, he claims "Google's ability to read data from many computers simultaneously is reminiscent of BitTorrent's technology." Honestly, there is probably little similarity between an algorithm optimized for reading data from multiple computers and an algorithm optimized to spread the pieces of a file to many different computers so that they can all share in the bandwidth of distributing the file. Rather, Google's technology tries to organize many copies of data across multiple computers, and then balance the load between the cluster while creating additional backup copies of data when one of the computers dies and stops responding. Such a statement sounds good to senior executives at a large corporation who probably do not understand any of the underling technology, and the author seems to only be riding on the hype of other high profile technologies. I don't see skype mentioned anywhere in the sample chapter, but would be surprised if it isn't mentioned in one of the other chapters.

    Plus his "unauthorized snapshot of Google's computing framework" makes absolutely no sense and the second figure shows the "fission occurring" as Google's "software engineering for higher performance" and "hardware engineering for reduced costs" come crashing together. Is this guy for real?

    What he has is guesses about some of the exciting things that Google might be developing, but I do not believe history is about to repeat itself and turn the tables on Microsoft, or that Microsoft is in any danger of being run of out the software industry anytime soon.

  13. Re:and then... by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Both aim for delivering individually tailored ads to people, but there are some subtle differences.. Google provides those people with a service while doubleclick does not. Google has a pretty good track record with regards to selling your info to others, Doubleclick has not,. I think you get the idea here.

    That said, Google is a company that is there to make money, every other thing they do ultimately serves that purpose.

  14. Wrong! Microsoft did not dethrone IBM by kbahey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It was not Microsoft who dethroned IBM. It was the minis then distributed computing that did so.

    IBM was the king of the mainframe: highly reliable and expensive centralized computing that is accessed from terminals.

    The trouble for IBM started with the minis with proprietary operating systems, such as DEC VMS and the like. Then it was the UNIX minis made by several vendors like Sun, Pyramid, HP.

    Much later it was client server computing that finally toppled IBM from the position of dominance they had. There was Novell Netware and Banyan VINES there as well, way before Windows networking was something to go by.

    They changed from the arrogant top player to a much humbled, yet respected company. This was in the early to mid 1990s as I recall.

    Microsoft's role in all this is not that great, apart from providing the operating system for PCs in the client server world.