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May 18, 2004

Google Moves Toward a Direct Confrontation With Microsoft

The New York Times > Technology > Google Moves Toward a Direct Confrontation With Microsoft. A great example of how plays can morph here: * We have Google first running a drag race in the search engine business against the likes of Inktomi. From the Microsoft point of view, this is a variant of stealth. That is, "heck, we are competing in some other tiny business, don't mind us." Note that Steve Ballmer doesn't take full notice and even MSN as a portal isn't clear on the threat. * After winning the search business, then line extension starts to happen, so you get froogle, you get google news, you get gmail. It's this kind of line extension that moves the company closer and closer. In this way, the play becomes portal (Yahoo/MSN) vs. Google. Still a stealth play as far as Microsoft can see fundamentally since it isn't attacking the core Windows and Office franchises. Of course, Microsoft sees where google is headed and launches a drag race on search and also lays in a platform play with Longhorn. * So now we are on the final phase, desktop search is now here. Very smart not to start here like so many others have. Instead, have lots of users and go after them. So, we'll finally get to the main event, a drag race for the user interface that people use everyday. Really great marketing plays have this kind of play-by-play series.

Posted by rich at May 18, 2004 10:31 PM

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