IT or Information Technology is something we are no longer unfamiliar with nowadays. There might be minority of people who pride themselves on not being caught in some crazy trends but I believe this number is coming down. I just hook my father up to the Internet more than half a year as his faithful service (Teletext giving “real time” stock prices) from the local broadcaster suddenly stopped. Instead, calling busy brokers to ask for price information, he approached me for help. So, I threw together a decent laptop loaded with SUSE Linux and then, it began… Amazingly, my dad survives till today, making only complaints about the inability to install some Window applications recommended by my sister.
Even though things seem still to be growing, the industry is shrinking as the IT giants began to cross one another’s path. Take the G-M-Y, M-G-Y or Y-M-G for example, Microsoft (M) has been aggressively pushing for market share in the search engine business. Partnering with Yahoo (Y) and Wolfram Alpha (if you don’t know what it is, see this),and at the same time, (close to) bribing News Corporation, Microsoft is really putting up a good fight for something they have missed out in the beginning despite being ahead with the Internet technologies. They focused too much on the web browser technology and neglected the true potential of web services or portal. They followed up with the purchase of Hotmail and tried to build a community around the MSN portal but they are still way behind Yahoo and Google (G). Just imagine how fast Google builds up its email service, brushing Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail aside. As for the portal, Google tries to do it in a different way (typical of Google) while they take cautious measures to protect their most valuable assets: search engine. Though they also try to imitate services such as Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! News, they should receive credit in exploring in other areas such as Google Maps, Google book and Google Docs.
Google Docs could be the trigger point for the war between Microsoft and Google. Challenging Microsoft’s 2nd prized product with features (free and collaborative) it lacks of, Google presents itself as quite a competitor in this arena. Thanks to the many acquisitions before and the maturity of the Office technologies, Microsoft is able to stand off such challenges (not the first time since Sun Microsystems and IBM have been in the competition for quite some time. Not to forget other Office products built for Linux and Mac OS). But things might change in the future as Google seems to have taken the right step. Microsoft should learn from the lessons it had with GNU tools (free software tools). While Linux did make a big impact on the server software business, its success with consumer is not as measurable. But GNU tools and free tools such as Eclipse have seriously challenged Microsoft’s compiler tools’ business. When it tries to release the product for free a few years ago, it is a sign of things changing. Seriously, collaborative software for unlimited users (and of course, for zero license fee) is very attractive for multinational companies and international community. If the Google Doc is able to match up with Microsoft Office or somewhere close to OpenOffice or IBM Lotus Symphony, it would be my default choice (rather than preferred one).
This probably explains why Microsoft is fighting so hard in this business of searching. So far, these wonderful services from Google have a common issue. They may not be as outstanding as its search engine service, particularly in terms of popularity and technological edge. We have used Google search engine for more than 10 years now and will continue to do so, just as we will use Microsoft Windows. Google Maps looks promising until Bing Maps and Yahoo! Maps can be seen on some websites. Google books remain a black horse. Having cleared recently a barrier with publishers, it still faces an uphill task especially in the face of Amazon.com. This is always the case when you are changing the landscape of the industry. See what MP3 or digital audio has done to the music industry. Anyway, the great benefits of the technology are becoming visible in national libraries. Another reason why Microsoft is in this battle could be the attacks incoming (Google Chrome in both web browser and Operating System). It just can’t sit there and take the hits.
With the Google Chrome OS, Google prepares to make a paradigm shift in the industry landscape again. Already running in mobile phones in the Android version, the OS is tagged with what Google is famous for: search, and its other services. In this move, Google tries to spread over a wide range of platform, building on its currently available services or technologies. They might be over stretched but it definitely worth a try. But by completing this step, Google has set stage for direct confrontation with Microsoft across the horizon. Next, it would just need to push forward (vertically) for all technologies and head for a showdown.
Let’s not leave Yahoo! out of the picture. Its portal services or business is still amazingly strong, thanks to the first-mover advantage. It just needs to re-discover the magic that brings them to where they are today. Amidst the commotion of selling the company, Yahoo! shows signs of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Abandoning the search engine business (which might already have been a lost cause), partnering with cash rich Microsoft and extending on the email service (to include facilities to social networking and so on), Yahoo! is making the right moves. It is also a key player in online advertising but this is also the most intense competition would be. Being more focused now, Yahoo! can be a force and relive its past glorious moments. Strategy should be simple: kept out from the battle between the 2 Goliaths and stay afloat as there will be tremors created by the two from time to time for sure.
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