this is a rather random post. But im sure a fair few people have noticed, that microsoft and google, seem to be at war...
For every product google brings out, microsoft seems to try to beter it.
And google keeps creating new products to try and get ahead.
for instance:
gmail - microsoft make hotmail
google search - microsoft make live search
Gmail IM - micorsoft make live messenger
Google earth - microsoft make world wide telescope and visual earth
google sketchup - microsoft make Virtual Earth - 3DVIA
Google pack contains lots of free software from other companies like
Norton antivirus - microsoft make windows defender
skype - micrisoft have live messenger
ect

Google picaso - microsoft make numerous image tools like photostory
Google desktop - mocrosoft make desktop search
Google screensaver - microsoft has photo screensaver with windows XP


So what will happen?
Can we expect to see google making operating systems in a few years?
Will google overtake microsoft?

Opinions?

The real beef between Google and Microsoft is probably fallout from Google's purported tentative partnership with Yahoo!.

Microsoft has been trying to buy out Yahoo! for some time now, but the Yahoo! board members have managed to avert all of Microsoft's advances, turning down multi-billion dollar take over bids like they were cheap candy. Currently Microsoft is backing some billionaire stakeholder (can't remember the guy's name at the moment) in the hopes the he'll stage a coup' de' tat, with the goal of replacing the current Yahoo! board members, opening the door for a quick take over.

Yahoo! stockholders have voiced concerns as to whether the current board heads are up to the task of running the company, so the board was somewhat vulnerable to 'external' influences like the Microsoft backed billionaire guy. In an effort to smooth over the dangerously volatile situation with their stockholders the Board heads started pushing a partnership proposal with Google. The jist of the deal is that they would be swapping technology and services with Google thereby opening up markets hitherto untapped by Yahoo! and its affiliates. The board heads are hoping the stockholders will favor this deal rather than a buy out from Microsoft.

Hence the reason why Microsoft is currently at odds with Google.

In typical Microsoft fashion they try to undercut the competition by producing cheaper variants of a given technology. Microsoft has a great support network to foster quick distribution and adaptation of their technologies (usually to the exclusion of everything else). They have been able to leverage this advantage to great effect in the past. When IBM was king of the PC platform in the '80s there was a copy of MS-DOS on every one of their machines. It didn't matter if it was the best operating system or not, all that mattered was market share. They had the power of ubiquity, their software products were synonymous with the IBM platform.

Today though the field of play is vastly different. The battle ground is the internet and Google can pretty much call it their home turf as far as search engines go, so no matter what Microsoft produces to compete with Google and its supporting technologies they'll be way behind the curve. Couple that with the current industry wide push behind open-source development and methodologies --with Google being one its forerunners-- Microsoft looks to be the weaker contender in this fight. Still, Microsoft is as tenacious and aggressive in its tactics as they come so whose to say who will be standing when the dust settles..

This post has been edited by dimumurray: Aug 7 2008, 05:15 PM

I suppose so!
No, microsoft could not overtake google with anything internet. But google could surely overtake microsoft with a new operating system!

I think they should make a browser. It would be so much beter than IE!

Or support the current Freeware Browsers (like Opera and Firefox) to be an even stronger presense in the Market.

Why does everyone talk about how cool it would be if Google made their own OS? Don't people know how difficult and costly it is to do? And they'd need to make a lot more software to make it feasible - a file explorer, a Zip Archieve viewer and a Control Panel to name a few. Then again, Google is known to support Ubuntu on much of its software and has it's own modified version of Ubuntu running on some of it's corporate computers, and considering how versatile Linux is, making a new OS from the existing shell would not be too difficult a task...

A Google Browser? Never heard of that idea before, but that would sound pretty cool and would definately take them a step further in the "Google OS" direction. But I agree with jlhaslip - it'd probably be better in the long run for them to support the current Freeware Browsers to be an even stronger presense in the Market. In fact, they already do in many ways...

Microsoft vs. Google is quite a popular topic overall, and one that'll be on people's lips for a while. But there's a key difference between the two companies - Microsoft is about Computers, Google is about the Internet. Though the two may be competing with each other in some ways, they are too different in others for either to be considered a true competitor to the other, and that's why I think it's wrong to take a side at the present time. But considering both companies' contributions, the costs involved, and the history of the companies, I'm going to say that if Google does at any time wan't to become a true competitor to Microsoft and make it's own OS or whatever, then I back them all the way. Google for the win, that's what I say.

I honestly don't know about being at war, to be honest I didn't even know that Microsoft has released those services. (other than live search and hotmail) I just thought that microsoft was all about copying other people's Ideas. Look at all the 'new' things in vista that were already in os x, and all the freeware stuff that Microsoft copied the ideas...

Google building an operating system, I really dont know how soon it would happen or even if it would happen. I could possibly see them releasing a sort of 'web based' system. or at least a virtual drive in which you can work on documents (with google docs) and do various other sorts of files. I could see that, maybe doing a re-mastered linux. Developing a few programs for it.

I would fully trust a google operating system... unlike Microsoft

A google browser?

Already done!

Google Chrome!

I can't see Google introducing an OS, sorry. It would be really hard, as it would need to support every single game out there that works on XP or Vista to be successful. Would a google OS be free? Or would it be $100? $200? Who knows. How would they distribute it? Microsoft currently make mice, keyboards, webcams etc. Google would have to match those as well.
In a nut shell, I think it wouldn't be feasible for Google to introduce and support an OS. I would rather they stick to what they do currently and do it well.

Lachlan

Google Operating system has ALREADY been made... Just not available to the public. It is called (well, nicknamed) "Goobuntu" from the name, you can probably easily tell that it is either a Google modified version of uBuntu or just Google modified version of a plain Linux Kernel...

Google isn't "evil" like microsoft... Their slogan says so...

But the thing is... hmm... unlike before I don't have much to ramble on about... :?

Anywhom... If both were to invade each other's "area" of business, then Microsoft would certainly lose... If Google gets shut down, the entire internet would basically "collapse" well, maybe not collapse but something similar... If Microsoft were to become defunct, then its another happy day for Linus...