Chrome OS vs. Windows. Bing vs. Google. Both battles are related and intertwined. Steve Ballmer talks about both. Steve Ballmer has been known to downplay competitors strategies and products. In one glaring example he made fun of the iPhone before it’s release. I don’t think he’s poking fun at it anymore. So many established businesses believe they have a stranglehold on a market just to find out that someone faster, more agile and with a completely different vision for the product comes along and steals a ton of market share. Will that happen with Chrome OS? It will be an uphill battle, but its not impossible.
We will discuss some of the quotes below.
“The last time I checked you don’t need two client operating systems. We tried it before. Windows 95 and Windows NT. It’s good to have one. So I can’t — I don’t really know what’s up at Google.”
Mac OS X and Apple have been stealing market share slowly from Microsoft in the past few years… despite having more expensive software and hardware. This tells you that people are interested in changing products simply because they feel that there is better value elsewhere.
“There’s good data that says 50 percent of the time that someone’s on their PC, they’re not doing something with the Web browser,”
My usage may not be representative of the average person out there so I may not be the best example. However, I think Ballmer is missing the point here. I may not spend more then 50% of my time in the browser — but I spend near 100% of the time with internet related applications. Ask yourself how frustrated you were the last time your internet went out? What were you able to do? Almost every application I use needs the internet. About the only thing I can do without it is play games… single player. Which I rarely do. When my internet connection is off, I find myself simply walking away from the computer until its working again.
This is the beauty… just because Chrome OS is going to be based on a “browser” operating system doesn’t mean that you can’t run fully capable applications on it. It will still have a fully fledged operating system below.
“Man, oh man, have we taken a lot of abuse, and we’re still just an itsy-bitsy part of the market, but we have a little bit of mojo,”
Got Irony much? Do you think that above statement can be reversed to apply to what Google is trying to accomplish with the Chrome OS? It’s sexy right now to root for Google and hate on Microsoft. Why? I don’t know.. everyone loves an underdog? Microsoft has done “evil” things in the past? Google still is considered a “geek” company and not a huge corporation (though, they are… and their reputation as one continues to grow daily). Whatever the reason Microsoft has to fight for positive public perception and Google is granted it automatically.
Only when they announce such an off the wall idea like doing an operating system do the skeptics come out. Which leads me to the next quote… I couldn’t have said it any better:
“as good a view of our tenacity and commitment as anything you’ve ever seen.”
If Google puts forth their full effort on this project, it can be successful. The same could be said for Bing with Microsoft. Both companies need to make long term commitments to their projects because neither is going to have instant success.
The similarities and competition between these two companies is amazing. This is just one battle in a larger war, and I can guarantee that there will be other fronts in the future. There will be future markets and products that both companies will compete against each other on and we as customers will only enjoy better products because of it.
Sources: TechCrunch.com, eweek.com.
Tags: bing, chrome os, microsoft, Steve Ballmer
the big difference here is that Microsoft has been willing to spend billions annually for over a decade on products which will probably never make a profit. They do it for many reasons but mostly to keep those competing technologies in check against Windows. So we know they’ll keep dumping their profits from Windows into their search, their game console, their embedded OS, and many more.
The big question is, will Google be willing to fight Microsoft tooth and nail? Google seems to be doing alot of this stuff to get more eyes onto the internet and therefore more eyes on their search site. Microsoft has shown that it’ll cross the legal line over and over to protect their Windows assets. Can Google do no evil yet dump millions to billions into projects like Chrome OS or will they let Microsoft shut them out of the market with exclusive deals?
We’ve seen Microsoft and Ballmer play their game for so long it’s just boring to even read what he said. It’s just that predictable and lends no value what so ever. Google on the other hand, is new and their motivations are fresh and new and maybe even unpredictable. So forget the underdog comment, Google is just not boring and predictable like Microsoft is.
What I find amazing is what Google’s been able to do with what was essentially, a search engine. Look what they’ve parlayed that into. Neither founder knew how to make money off of Google when they created it or even sought out investors.. but something presents itself.
When your product is superior to everyone else by leaps and bounds, it usually does I guess.
Hi All,
I think google put a bomb in the operating system world in the form of google chrome operating system. it may not be a competitor to microsoft. By it will capture a major marcket share
http://thecromeinfo.blogspot.com/2009/07/microsoft-windows-vs-google-chrome-os.html
Regards