A great battle continues across the technological corporate landscape painting . Whoever bring home the bacon this battle could dictate the role estimator play in the foreseeable future . The armory on both side includes ironware , software system and the power of the net . It has n’t been pretty , and it ’s potential to get even uglier .
On one part of the battlefield isMicrosoft , a corporation plant in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen . In June 2010 , Microsoft was trading at $ 26 a share on the NASDAQ and its market value was $ 227 billion [ author : Wolfram|Alpha ] . The flagship product for Microsoft is the operating system Microsoft Windows . The company has leveraged its relationship with PC manufacturer to overtop the PC market . According to Net Applications , Inc. , more than 91 pct of all PC are running a Windows operating system [ source : Net Applications ] .
On the other part of the battlefield is the immature challenger : Google . constitute in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Google adjust out to become the better search engine on the Web . consider that the WWW had been around since the early ' 90 , Google had a lot of catching up to do . They did just that , and today Google is a brawny force on the Web , offering a suite of products rove from mapping applications to mobile platforms . In June 2010 , Google was trading at $ 488 a portion on the NASDAQ and its grocery note value was $ 119 billion [ source : Wolfram|Alpha ] .
Microsoft made a giving retrieval after a rough clime took the party below $ 16 per percentage in March 2009 . Google , after being as gloomy as $ 263 per share in November 2008 , has rivaled Microsoft in its recovery , prove it can sustain and come back firm even when times are tough . Though both troupe made all-encompassing cuts for the first prison term , they both show no signs of stopping their current growth style as they stick in unexampled products and expand their economic value in survive market .
Who will win at set the trends ? Will the innovative nouveau-riche topple the established software veteran ? Will their imbrication markets be a primal factor in the battle ?
Google vs. Microsoft
In Google ’s first decade online , GoogleandMicrosoftdidn’t seem to be the sort of companionship that would contend directly with each other . Google ’s main ware is an Internet search locomotive engine and the party ’s revenue comes from ad sales . Microsoft ’s main products are an operate system , bureau productiveness suite and other software system . Where ’s the conflict ?
Today , there are several point where Microsoft and Google crown of thorns track . The two have taken each other on in their aboriginal product categories , and expand into new markets as well .
Microsoft ’s verbatim competitor attempt is a hunting engine called Bing . Microsoft set in motion Bing in 2009 as a step above its Live Search and MSN search engines . Its features are similar in look , feel , and function to Google ’s search . It has n’t boom in the marketplace yet , though : As of February 2010 , Nielsen reported that Microsoft search railway locomotive ( Bing , Live Search , and MSN ) all partake a bare 12.5 percent of on-line searches , nowhere near Google ’s humongous 65 percent [ beginning : Nielsen ] . It ’s still not close , even if you add in Microsoft ’s new 10 - year search engine pardner Yahoo , at 14 per centum .
Google has made an attempt to vie with Microsoft ’s Office package rooms with its Web - based productiveness software called Google Docs . Google Docs includes a Son processor , spreadsheet program , slideshow introduction shaper , and even a form detergent builder and drawing tools , all with the portability of entree from any vane browser app . It also progress to it well-situated to collaborate with others on a project , with the power for both users to edit the same written document , even at the same sentence . Google Docs is not as robust and feature - rich as Microsoft Office software , though , and calculate on Google for seclusion and availability .
Microsoftfired back at Google with Office Live Workspace ( OLW ) , free on-line collaboration versions of its Microsoft Office production . OLW promptly works with file in proprietary Microsoft Office data formatting for documents , spreadsheets , and presentations . Plus , the SkyDrive gives you 25 GB of distance in which to store files [ reference : Microsoft ] . But Microsoft did n’t just put OLW together overnight ; it leveraged the index of its well - established ( though costly ) SharePoint software package to create the new free Web serving [ source : Foley ] .
Both Google and Microsoft have wandering operating system platforms . Yet neither company is close to overtake the iPhone from Apple , which has confining to 60 per centum of the food market [ source : Quantcast ] . However , Google Android is also growing rapidly , and it already has twice the share of Windows Mobile [ source : Net Applications ] . Will Windows Mobile survive ? Microsoft is cleverly looking past Android and taking intent forthwith at the iPhone in encourage its Windows Phone 7 , to be release in belated 2010 .
Besides the mobile platforms , both Google and Microsoft offer Web - based eastward - mail service platforms . Both are indue millions of dollar bill into cloud computer science solvent . And both agnize the growing importance of the cyberspace for the average consumer . Google may have an advantage over Microsoft because it ’s a Web - establish company ; however , Microsoft has decades of experience in program development and consumer enquiry . Let ’s look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of each company .
Google and Microsoft Strengths and Weaknesses
One vantage Google may have over Microsoft is public perception . Part of Google ’s philosophy is " you’re able to make money without doing evil " [ source : Google ] . Google has build a reputation on design and customer service . The fellowship ’s headquarters – theGoogleplex– is famous for its unparalleled amenities and spot .
Microsoft had a standardized report . But after years of dominate the operating system mart , Microsoft has become the establishment . Microsoft has received brutal criticism for some of its outlet over the years , including problems with stableness , security and compatibility . Windows ME and Windows Vista both made bad first impression . Though Microsoft release patches to treat many of those problems , many people had already decided to avoid them . Fortunately for Microsoft , it ’s retain some deference with releases that have forget a more positive impression , like Windows XP and Windows 7 .
Microsoft has a much stiff hold on the desktop app marketplace . Beside the Windows OS , Microsoft make the Office entourage ofproductivity software , software for computer servers and the entanglement browser app Internet Explorer . Another important Microsoft mathematical product is its personal line of credit of Xbox consoles and games . The video game market is one area of strength for Microsoft that Google has yet to impact .
If consumer begin to corrupt inexpensive automobile with modified processing power , Google will have an vantage . That ’s because almost all of its products are Web inspection and repair . The only piece of software program you need to get at most of Google ’s services is a web web browser . As advert to begin with , Google introduced its own Chrome web web browser that jumped to the third - largest market share promptly . The Chrome browser app may pave the way for the Web - found Chrome OS to become a viable OS competitor .
If consumers adjudicate that they choose to buy the late and greatest data processor computer hardware , Microsoft has the vantage . Their products run to have more features because they rely on the computer ’s native processing world power to track down . connection table service incline to be less complex – not because the figurer running the coating are less powerful , but because broadband speed are n’t degraded enough for an ideal consumer experience in many case .
Google and Microsoft Partnerships and Rivalries
A fundamental scheme for bothGoogleandMicrosoftis to seek out belittled company that are in effect at make certain mathematical product or service and then either partner with them or buy them outright . Both Google and Microsoft have made some high - profile deals that have tone up their place in the food market .
In 2005 , Google purchased 15 companies for a total of $ 85 million . These company ramble from an analytics kickoff - up shout out Urchin to a 3 - D draftsmanship software predict SketchUp [ source : Google ] . One of Google ’s largest acquisition deal was for the online advertising company DoubleClick . Google purchased DoubleClick in 2007 for $ 3.1 billion [ source : Economic Times ] . Google has also form partnership with company like AOL , NBC and the DISH web . Most of these deals focus on online or over - the - breeze advertising .
Microsoft purchased 22 company even during its economic challenges in 2008 - 2009 [ rootage : Microsoft ] . Like Google , Microsoft looks for companies that provide product or service that complement Microsoft ’s inwardness business . These party often become the sectionalisation in Microsoft behind mathematical product like the Xbox game console table or Zune music player .
Microsoft and Google have also battle over some of the same company , such as Yahoo . When Yahoo experience fiscal trouble in 2008 , Microsoft made a bid to acquire it . Yahoo administrator pass up to betray the company for Microsoft ’s price , and Google drag in to make an publicizing partnership raft . The U.S. government objected because the deal would give Google a monopoly on the search advertizing sale market . Microsoft come back in 2010 , announcing that its Bing search engine would power Yahoo ’s search results in exchange for ad tax revenue . Regulators in Europe and the United States gave the Microsoft - Yahoo deal a light-green light with no conditions [ source : Singel ] .
Microsoft and Google have also competed for important partnership , such as those needed to exposit their wandering platform mart shares . Android mobile OS has made fleet gain in the mobile o marketplace share , going from around 5 percent in January 2009 to 20 percent in May 2010 [ origin : Quantcast ] . cardinal deals with manufacturers like Motorola along with ingenious advertizement helped make it bechance . In March 2010 , Microsoft struck back with its own deal with Motorola for site the Bing hunt engine on its Android phone [ beginning : Gardner ] . Meanwhile , Windows Mobile lose earth as Android moved up , and Microsoft hoped to find that and more with the release of Windows Phone 7 , slated for late 2010 [ reservoir : Oiaga ] .
But not everything is a competition between the two companies . Google and Microsoft joined forcefulness to petition the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) . They want access to the unused band in the television relative frequency spectrum , know aswhite space . Google , Microsoft , HP and Motorola joined forces to create the White Spaces Database Group , which would subject new protocols that standards companies will have to follow for take advantage of the snowy spaces for wireless broadband . In November 2008 , the FCC approved the request for unlicensed use of the distance . Thanks to this chemical group sweat , invention is starting to fall out in the white-hot spaces . In January 2010 , the FCC designated Google as one of the decision maker of a database for white distance machine [ source : Whitt ] .
Microsoft and Google Future
It ’s likely thatGoogleandMicrosoftwill compete even more in the future . Both companies are inflate their core businesses . Microsoft is trying to gain ground online while Google make services that carry through the same functions as traditional screen background software package . Both companies are on the observation post for potential acquisitions and partnerships to bolster up their position in the market .
Neither company is in a tough place . Both have suffered losses from the global economic declension . Both had to make sacrifice and slue line of work for the first time in their various history . But both are still worth several billion dollars , have recuperate well from their fiscal setbacks and continue to rise young product and service .
Google seems to have a great deal of momentum . The ship’s company has a reputation for innovation . It ’s renowned for give employees 20 percent of their piece of work week to act on special task . Many of these limited undertaking finish up inGoogle Labs , a special incision on Google that allows users to experiment with new servicing . finally , these services may graduate into fully - realized products from Google .
The public and collective reaction toWindows Vistawas a blow to Microsoft , though the positive response to Windows 7 has helped turn the lunar time period . The Windows operating organisation is a core Microsoft product . As more people hear about cloud computer science and wonder the value of powerful personal data processor , the company must adapt to the new market environment . Products like Office springy Workspaces are a start , and Microsoft has other initiative plan to capitalise on cloud computation , too . Microsoft is reorganise for the big comeback , and it has the resources to make it happen .
Competition continues to hot up up on some presence , but both side of meat are still strong , and it looks like Google wo n’t be parcel out the death gust to Microsoft any time soon .
