8 replies to this topic

[Alan Perkins]

Microsoft-Google battle heats up

Microsoft's chief executive vowed to "kill Google" in an expletive-laden tirade against the firm, according to US court documents filed by Google.

Nastier and nastier...

[Matt B]

Very cool, the "Evil Empire" v. "Do no evil".

Nice set up for the next few years, should be fun to watch. Of course, M$ will have to do much better than MSNSearch 1.0.

[Martin C]

Even if you are devoted to Google competition can only be a good thing - the better MSN the better Google needs to be.

If Microsoft want to devlop MSN to take on Google and win I say good luck to them as it is we the consumer that are going to benefit.

[Scottie]

I'm with you Martin- competition can only be a good thing. It would be great to diversify where the traffic comes from.

[Alan Perkins]

I'm not sure Microsoft see it the same way.

[Randy]

Microsoft have already said that they consider Google to be the most serious competition they've ever had. Including Apple, IBM (back in the old days), Netscape, Linux, etc. So you can bet that they take everything Google does very, very seriously.

Not that I necessarily think this is a bad thing. MS needs a little pushing as much as Google does for sure! So the competition is bound to force both and everybody else to innovate at a much higher level than has been the case for the last 5-10 years.

I don't remember exactly where I read the whole bit about Google being the most serious competition, but I'll find it if I can. I've actually read it several places, but the one I believed was in an interview somewhere by a reputable source speaking directly to Gates or Ballmer.

[qwerty]

Let's see, there this quote from an article from May in Fortune

"Google is interesting not just because of web search, but because they're going to try to take that and use it to get into other parts of software," says Gates as he leans forward in his chair, his body coiled as if he could spring to his feet at any second. "If all there was was search, you really shouldn't care so much about it. It's because they are a software company," he says. "In that sense," he adds later, "they are more like us than anyone else we have ever competed with."

[Randy]

I believe that may be it Qwerty ! You a mind reader or sumptin?

I can't wait for the little Star Wars'esque takes on Google vs Microsoft to start popping up in earnest. I've only seen a couple so far and they weren't very funny.

Luke, I am your father.

[Alan Perkins]

I just loved this quote:

In his sworn statement, Mr Lucovsky - a key Windows architect - alleged that Mr Ballmer hurled a chair across the room when he informed him he was moving to Google, before launching into an abusive tirade against Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt.

Great imagery, even if it is a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place". Somehow, in the light of the infamous Ballmer Monkey Boy Gyrations, you can picture it happening as Lucovsky describes.