Why Microsoft Ultimately Will Triumph Over Google (and Vice Versa)

Why Microsoft Ultimately Will Triumph Over Google (and Vice Versa)

The installed base of Windows and related application software creates so much inertia that Google will never be able to overcome it.

– As the software-as-a-service and on-premise software computing models continue to converge, Microsoft is in a better position to create the most value from that convergence.

As the value proposition of business computing continues to shift toward vertical market expertise to create solutions for markets such as health care, Microsofts consulting capabilities will start to tell.

Increasingly, customers dont want to manage their own IT infrastructure, giving Microsoft a strategic advantage over Google because of its remote management tools and extensive partner network.

At the end of the day, Google has established a brand around a set of search algorithms that arent all that relatively complex, which means that with time and effort, Microsoft will be able to replicate and then enhance the model.

As we increasingly move into the world of Web 2.0 and beyond, Microsoft has an army of third-party developers that it has yet to call on to battle Google.

Handheld devices are the new remote controls of the Internet, and Microsoft has a significant edge to be one of the major mobile computing platform providers.

Although Microsoft may not inspire a lot of confidence in this category, it still spends billions of dollars on an activity that most end users cant do without.

Microsoft has already demonstrated its willingness to buy everything it needs to be successful in the war with Google.

Microsofts senior leadership team has battle-scarred veterans from the wars with Apple, Netscape and Lotus, so the war with Google is just another in a series of long-running campaigns.

Why Microsoft Ultimately Will Triumph Over Google (and Vice Versa)

This approach to funding software development creates an almost inexhaustible supply of high-margin, recurring revenue that can be used to back an untold number of software projects.

The move toward software as a service, particularly in the area of collaboration software, is providing Google with enough momentum to stave off any challenge on the software front, especially if it starts to acquire companies such as Salesforce.com.

Google is quietly building a global network of data centers that will power the next generation of IP-driven multimedia applications.

The acquisition of this site gives Google a platform for video content that is going to be the fastest-growing medium on the Web. That content will eventually include training videos alongside home movies.

Google has already established itself as a de facto homepage for millions, while Microsofts MSN efforts still pale compared to rivals.

Governments across the globe are embracing Google as counter balance to the potential threat of a Microsoft monopoly.

Google software and services are available at comparatively nominal costs compared to Microsoft licensing fees.

Google has managed to attract some of the best and brightest minds to work for a company that has a far less structured approach to product development.

While its hard to say that Google has a definitively better approach to security than Microsoft, its pretty clear that Microsofts reputation in this area is a plus for Google.

Google has yet to make a significant inroad into the world of e-commerce, dominated by companies such as e-Bay, but its pretty clear Google has ambitions in this space that, given its Web presence, it is likely to fulfill before Microsoft.

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