News About Google

[dmcgill]

Hi All,

With all the fuss about the "burp" from Google today I have been looking around and came across this interesting article for Forbes.

"It is all much more than Brin and Page ever had in mind when they started. "Sure, I'm surprised by the success," says Brin, unassuming, rumpled and wiry, his sneakers scuffing the upholstery of a conference-room chair. Users love Google, he says, because they find things there when they are desperate to know an answer. Keep offering better results and you hold their loyalty forever--and sell them stuff. Page adds that Google has become "like a person to them, helping them and giving them intelligence any hour of the day."

The passion and success igniting Google, and its emergence as a new interface for the Internet, have made it a rich, fat target for rivals. Yahoo (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) is taking aim. So is the biggest search outfit, Overture (nasdaq: OVER - news - people ), a little-known billion-dollar vendor that provides unbranded search services for other Web sites and has sued Google, alleging patent infringement. A gaggle of some 200 Web sites in China is reportedly going after Google, too.

And now Google faces the most lethal threat of all: Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), aroused, is taking aim at the popular site. This bears an eerie resemblance to the rise--and calamitous fall--of Netscape, the first commercially successful Web browser.

Will Google be the next victim of a Windows that swallows everything? To help ensure a future, Brin and Page brought in a grown-up as chief executive, Valley veteran Eric Schmidt, 48. Fittingly, Schmidt had abundant experience struggling against Microsoft in his two previous jobs: He was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ), then chief executive of Novell (nasdaq: NOVL - news - people ), two companies that thought, wrongly, they had Microsoft licked. Google's founders credit Schmidt with successfully managing their company's most intense period of growth

Also, GoDaddy has been targeted and dropped by Google. Time to move from GoDaddy maybe??
Dmcgill

[minstrel]

Will Google be the next victim of a Windows that swallows everything? To help ensure a future, Brin and Page brought in a grown-up as chief executive, Valley veteran Eric Schmidt, 48. Fittingly, Schmidt had abundant experience struggling against Microsoft in his two previous jobs: He was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems, then chief executive of Novell, two companies that thought, wrongly, they had Microsoft licked. Google's founders credit Schmidt with successfully managing their company's most intense period of growth.

Interesting article but I was struck by this part - if you're worried about Microsoft as competition, would your first choice be to bring in someone who has already been beaten by Microsoft twice?

Also, GoDaddy has been targeted and dropped by Google. Time to move from GoDaddy maybe??

Google is saying something a bit different, but who knows? - Have you seen this thread? Dumped by Google

In any case, I don't disagree with you: if you're currently with another host, it probably isn't a good time to be moving your site to GoDaddy - leave it where it is at least until the dust settles - if you're currently with GoDaddy, should you find someone else? I probably would be thinking about it...

[dmcgill]

No worries, I have my own server and host my own sites. I do have several customers on GoDaddy though and perhaps they will all be moving to me now but we'll see.

As to Mr. Gates, I know that he just does it for the sake of doing it so even though it may be a hard battle that he may not win, he is capable of putting up a good fight.
dmcgill

[matauri]

Interesting article but I was struck by this part - if you're worried about Microsoft as competition, would your first choice be to bring in someone who has already been beaten by Microsoft twice?

My thoughts also Dave. But have many?

If Gates wants a Google, Gates will have a Google...one way or another. Hasn't he always?

Over the years I have watched how Google has grown. It was only a matter of time before it became a commodity that needed to be taken.


Cindy

[minstrel]

If Gates wants a Google, Gates will have a Google...one way or another. Hasn't he always?

Yes... but he hasn't always drowned the competition. A good example is Quicken - Microsoft moved into that market with Money and started bundling the software as a freebie with things like Works or Bookshelf. I had been a Quicken user and tried Money but honestly thought Quicken was more intuitive and more efficient. That was a few years ago - my latest version of Quicken was 2002 and I'm still happy with it but I have read reviews suggesting (my interpretation only) that they are in 2003 trying to shift their product to become more like Money, which is a huge mistake I think other Microsoft competitors have made. My advice to Quicken (and Google too) would be: Microsoft is in competition with you because you are you and people like your product or service - keep doing what you are doing and there's a reasonably good chance you'll keep your market - don't try to become Microsoft because there is no way you can win that game...

[matauri]

don't try to become Microsoft because there is no way you can win that game...

Too true. Too many times they lose the war in the battlefields.

Microsoft came up with many products that didn't rival. Lucky for the users of Google, Quicken, etc, etc, they were introduced to the real macoy first. Unfortunately though, a lot of new time computer owners will have it auto installed in their shiny new computer packages, so they wont think to go elsewhere unless dragged there.

This is how microsoft wins....eventually all us old fogies will be on to other new developments by other companies, or be dead. All that is left is those that only 'know' microsoft products & will stick to a product they know.

Though, I have heard that some are now preloading Netcrap. However, Netcrap is slow & bloatish, and people could look elsewhere. Gates never had that prob with IE...buggy yeah....but bulky not really. But being a convert to Firebird, I see that as one of the next targets. We'll see what kinds of packages Longhorn loads with it in the future now. Gates is not going to let any of this slip through his fingertips, he's not stupid by any means. He has the means & ways to stay competitive.


Cindy

[rlrouse]

Microsoft has lost some battles, yes. But IMO those battles were lost because winning them wasn't a must-do priority for Gates. I believe that winning the search wars will be different.

Bill apparently has a fire in his belly that will only be extinguished when MS has replaced all competitors as the #1 search vehicle on the web.

By simply placing a Microsoft search box (whether it be for a souped up MSN seach, a "purchased" Google, or whatever) on the taskbar, MS can bypass 1st and 2nd altogether and end up on 3rd base, where a single up the middle (worth a few billion dollars, pocket change to Bill and company) ultimately gets them home.

The vast majority of casual computer users tend to stick with what they know and learn first. When all those new PCs are opened up and fired up, what's one of the first things the new owners will see on the screen?

A Microsoft search box. Multiply this by all the new computer users coming up and I don't think anyone else can overcome it, regardless of quality.

Last I heard, Microsoft has almost three times more cash in the bank than Google is worth. I just can't imagine a scenario where Bill loses if he's adamant about winning.

[dmcgill]

Bill has got what ever he has wanted. Most of us remember how he aquired Dos. It wasn't because of his brain work but some poor guy in Seattle he had met once.
As it is today, when you get a new computer and configure it to your ISP, the page that opens is MS.

Lesson in part for me in all this is do not put all your eggs in one basket. I think all search engines should be used and advertising should be purchased from all of them to keep options open. It is pretty clear that we will be dealing with the big ms giant for a while longer yet but remember David and Goliath. May be a true story... I'd like to think so.
Dmcgill

[Runawayrentals]

I recently read an article in Money, believe it was a higher up at symantec, ceo or such. It talked about MS and its attempts at stepping into new markets. In short he said, no one can beat MS in the marketing avenue, those that have tried have failed horribly. It is best to let MS have its way in those items, as it always is short lived.

Basically anyone who trie8s to outspend MS in advertising or heavy ramp ups at MS's ramping time, will almost always fail.

[janeth]

Everyone looses at sometime or another.

That sounds like a #1 football team coming to town and the coach on the other team tells his players no one can beat them so let's just try to get out of there way when you see them coming with the ball.

Just because they have won a couple battles does not mean there is no way to beat them.