Microsoft, Google Are Waging War on Many Fronts

Just because Microsoft and Google ended their patent battle doesn’t mean the war between them is over. Here are other areas they continue to battle over.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has its sights set on Google in the search market, but there’s little chance, at least in the near term, of the company’s platform succeeding. The trouble is Google has established itself as a leader worldwide and Microsoft has precious few opportunities to steal market share. Still, Microsoft continues to fight the war, and it won’t end anytime soon.

Cloud services are ubiquitous, but that hasn’t stopped Google and Microsoft from battling it out in that market. On one side is Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud-based storage, and on the other is Google Drive. Google also has a cloud-based operating system in Chrome OS. Look for the war for the cloud to heat up even more between the companies.

Android is by far the most popular mobile operating system in the world, outpacing iOS and Windows. Microsoft, however, believes that with the cross-device functionality of Windows 10, it can start to chip away at Android’s hold on the marketplace.

Both Microsoft and Google offer productivity suites, but it’s the former’s suite that is winning this battle. Microsoft Office is the world leader in productivity, and with help from add-ons like Yammer, Sway and Skype, it’s a superior solution to Google’s own Apps productivity suite.

On the desktop side, Microsoft is the de facto leader in operating systems, leading all companies by a wide margin. Still, that hasn’t stopped Google from trying to turn the tide with help from Chrome OS, a Web-based operating system running on Chromebooks. Chrome OS has started to take hold in the enterprise and educational sectors, but it has a long way to go to catch Windows.

Both Microsoft and Google started out as non-hardware companies, but now they’re both heavily involved in the space. Microsoft has its Surface Pro tablet and is likely to announce new handsets in the coming days. Google, meanwhile, works with third-party vendors for its Nexus smartphones, but also builds drones and has a new tablet, called the Pixel C. Not bad.

The enterprise, of course, is critical to Microsoft and is a major revenue driver for the company. But Google is also trying to attract enterprise customers with its Apps solutions, while Chrome OS has caught on in the business world. Google still has a ways to go in the enterprise, but Microsoft should keep close watch.

Vendor support is critical to the eventual success or failure of any operating system, and that’s why both Microsoft and Google are actively targeting companies like Samsung, LG, Dell, HP and others. The more vendor support an operating system has, the better its chances of appealing to customers. Look for vendor support to be a critical component in the companies’ operating system-related decision-making in the near future.

In addition to worrying about mobile operating systems, both Google and Microsoft are getting their platforms onto other operating systems. That’s why Microsoft helps to power Apple’s iOS search with Bing and why Google continues to provide iOS apps. The more operating systems the companies’ solutions can work on, the greater the number of customers, and the better their chances of succeeding in a hotly contested market.

The Internet or things (IoT) is proving to be a critical market for all companies, including Google and Microsoft. The search giant, for instance, has its own IoT platform, called Brillo. Microsoft, meanwhile, has split off a new division that focuses, in part, on the Internet of things. Look for Internet of things to be the next frontier in what is becoming a bigger and bigger war between the companies.