Who's the Boss? Google or Microsoft

Lots of people are thinking that Google’s release of its own web browser Chrome is to steal browser market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and to hopefully eventually overtake Internet Explorer. Even more people see clearly the direction Google is going here. Matt Cutt’s, head of Google’s web spam team, makes no secret of his desire someday to be able to sit down at any computer anywhere in the world and have access to all of his applications. It would be pretty cool.

It’s the dawning of a new age. Microsoft created the Windows operating system, oh so long ago, which started their almost monopoly in operating systems, software, etc. Google seems to be trying to replicate this business model.

Google has Gmail for email. Google Docs for documents, Google Reader for news feeds, now Google Chrome for a browser and recently released Google Gears, a browser extension, allows web applications to be available offline. You can catch up on your email and news feeds when you are not able to get online. Google Gears is open source software and developers will be adding more valuable enhancements.

Review all the applications on your computer and visualize what it will be like to go to any computer and have Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver equivalent applications available to use. These applications might not have all the bells and whistles of your applications but enough to be able to do what you need to do and cache it on your computer.

In the operating system and software world Microsoft is currently the boss. In the search world Google is currently the boss. The question is who will be the boss if Google’s strategy to make the web the operating system and the applications you use available online.

Do you think Microsoft is worried? Do you really care? Competition is the best thing for the customer. It might be nice to feel like we are in charge again.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.