If you gave the headline of this story a double take, no offense is taken. Â In fact, its quite understandable, given how ridiculous it may seem at face value.
Google deathly scared of Microsoft?  Yeah, that would be counter to all that we read these days about Google’s barely disguised disdain for the guys at Redmond; it would also be counter to their 53.7% crushing dominance of  the smartphone market, their competitive position in tablets; and their ownership of search and search marketing.
Oh, and lest we forget, didn’t the FTC just give Google a pass on their antitrust  investigation a scant few days ago?  Thus it is that the company has a swagger in their step these days.  So the last thing you would expect Google to be – with their $45 billion in cash as of September 2012 – is scared of Microsoft.
FTC Slaps Google’s Wrist, Microsoft Criticizes Ruling
 To many analysts and writers, Microsoft has made one misstep after another since Bill Gates left.  They arrived late to the cloud, to the smartphone, to the tablet and are a distant second in search and search marketing.  As the market gravitates very quickly to smaller form factors, devices running on Microsoft’s Windows 8 are only now becoming more than a blip on the charts.
So I ask again, why do I think Google is deathly scared of Microsoft as they engage in bruising battles with them? Â Why do I think that in their strategic planning, they talk more about Microsoft than they do Apple – with their fearsome iPad, Mini-iPad, MacBook and iPhone.
Here’s why.
All Comments
What a joke…Couldn’t help laughing… Does the author have any sense of the industry and its dynamics… it looks sillier than what can be written by a kindergarten kid… Microsoft making inroads in search… ROFL… eating share from its collaborator Yahoo!, the day is not near when Yahoo! will run away from Msft search deal…
FROM YOUR COMMENT LOOKS LIKE YOU DONT KNOW NYTHING ABT TECH MARKET, DNT TALK STUPID ALWAYS ITS NOT FUNNY
The only joke I see here is you and your post. In less then 2 years Android will outsell ALL of Apples iPhones by a margin of over 4 to 1 and in less then 5 years it will be 10 to 1. My source? CERT/US Federal Trade Commission AND the Electronics show out in Las Vegas. If the rumble from the people there is anything to go buy, Apple will soon be either a niche company or a dead in the water company. And dont start that crap about Apple being the most richest company in the world as it just isnt factually true. NO ONE with any brains is going to beieve that a company like Apple that at best has 8% of the worlds computer market and phone and pad market is somehow worth more then a company that holds 90% of the same markets! thats like saying you can blow up an atomic bomb in your hand and not get hurt or vaporized. According to CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) more people now are using Bing (though I personally cannot stand it) then are using Google. So keep on with your delusions, and MS will keep on getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And no before you ask, I am no fanboy of MS as I think there is room for a LOT of improvement, but you go with what works. And since there is a third party program that restores the start tab and makes Win 8 look like Win 7 or XP…I can only see it getting sold by the boat loads.
Oh and I am not a newbie with this, my first computer was when we had the blazing speed of 4 baud and a large floppy drive of maybe 500KB, not to mention that no matter what board you connected to you had to do it by a hand receiver like you saw in the Brodric movie “War Games” and you had to be good at phone phreaking (look it up child) as all boards were long distance and it made no difference if you were next door or across town or in another state. So indian and Ulrich, go back to yer mommas and have them wipe yer nose and change your nappies as neither of you know a darn thing of what your trying to talk about.
I agree that you are a veteran… 4 baud and large floppy drive. And that is where Mr. Ballmer is stuck too… Looks like people like you and Mr. Ballmer cannot understand the fact that the world has moved and that too mighty fast…
Also in your article you said Microsoft is scared of Google. Now in your reply you say that Android will outsell Apple iPhones. Just because Microsoft makes a few hundred million from mobile patents does not mean that the company will mint billions in profits over the years to come… If I see it correctly Microsoft will not fade away but will have to chop off its non-performing assets some day. It will be a giant but a smaller one than it is today.
Anyway my bad that I have posted in a Microsoft Fanboy website. I wish you and Ballmer all the best. You can sit back, relax and have a cup of coffee to see how 2013 unfolds in front of you.
I loved the line about the beautiful windows 8 interface. Everyone I’ve met who has tried it can’t stand it. The author is living in another dimension. But yes, Android is a defensive move. Always was. Only needed because Eric Schmidt knows how Microsoft plays dirty pool. Better to get out front and then kick MS in the knees. MS is still at it locking down laptops so it is hard to install other OSes. So sad they waste their time with this crap when they could be innovating instead.
I’m actually loving Windows 8 on my laptop. I was afraid I wouldn’t at first, but it’s awesome. It’s pretty much Windows 7, but faster and with a much better start screen. I don’t know if I’d ever be able to switch to a Windows phone though. Android is where it’s at.
Garnet Ulrich, if everyone you’ve ever met can’t stand Windows 8, you need to get out more!
Apparently you must be surrounded by people who just simply hate changes and still prefer to use XP. I for one praise Windows 8 and so do many of my colleagues and friends. It certainly runs faster; one merely has to adjust to new technology as one does when changing cars, TV, etc. etc.
Microsoft gains in search recently and will continue to gain, but don’t know if they’ll catch Google – who cares. We don’t search as much from a browser but from other platforms (Facebook for example and Microsoft works with them).
As computing on many devices grows, apps, as good as they are and important they’ve become, will give way to systems on an OS which can do things several apps can do or have the ability to plug and play what we call apps now so the number of apps will not make a difference – just ‘can I do that’, not ‘do they have an app for that’. The Windows 8 platform is better suited to be able to do this if and when they develop it that way.
Surface is new and will be smoothed out in the near future and then all the other partners will up their game with better quality laptops, desktops and tablets that take advantage of what Windows 8, 9, 10, etc. can and will be able to do. Its funny how so many are judging the future with so little time dealing mainly with Windows RT and a little with Windows 8 pro, but the computing devices that can use the Windows products are bairly coming out now. Google relies on some of the same partners – we’ll see how they split their time, efforts and money (Android has such cool ads that have nothing to do with the android system but make you want to get it to experience the demonstrated ‘power’)
Microsoft will still dominate enterprise around the world. My nephew, an IT guy, who works for a Chinese company that makes tires, had a decision to make – use Google software fo rhis company (to use inhouse and to connect those in China, USA and India) or to use Microsoft Office and all the structure and support from them. He chose Microsoft and thinks he made the right choice. He had to make a decision what laptops and operating systems to use before Windows 8 came out so he went with Windows 7 and is not sure of upgrading to 8 at this time. He likes a lot of what Microsoft is doing with: security, skype, cloud computing and storage, integration of the products, etc.
Microsoft stil has to make inroads into the consumer market and I think they can do much better – phones, tablets, laptops. It will take time and getting them to make better ads and find a way to show off what their products can do for our lifestyle – People need to be able to say – “My system can do that” and not look for an app for that (but be able to plug and play new apps)
Does anyone think that MS will do to Google what they did to Netscape? Using Bing or Yahoo is so irritating it probably drives people to Google, at least those who can tell the difference. Using Google Docs is a real pleasure compared to giving away storage to install the massive clunker that OFFICE has become. I like Windows 8 as far as I could go with it. I tried the pre-releases on three different platforms. It even ran really well in my Dell Mini 9 netbook in 2 GB memory and minimal disk space. I will not be installing the release in any of my three laptops or the netbook due to driver issues. Some drivers are not available and may never be. I will wait. If MS is making so much money off Android, why would they want to kill the golden goose.