Will Google destroy Microsoft?

Google vs. Microsoft

In Google's first decade online, Google and Microsoft didn't seem to be the kind of companies that would compete directly with each other. Google's main product is an Internet search engine and the company's revenue comes from ad sales. Microsoft's main products are an operating system, office productivity suite and other software. Where's the conflict?

Today, there are several points where Microsoft and Google cross paths. The two have taken each other on in their native product categories, and expanded into new markets as well.

Microsoft's direct competitor attempt is a search engine called Bing. Microsoft launched Bing in 2009 as a step above its Live Search and MSN search engines. Its features are similar in look, feel, and function to Google's search. It hasn't boomed in the marketplace yet, though: As of February 2010, Nielsen reported that Microsoft search engines (Bing, Live Search, and MSN) all shared a mere 12.5 percent of online searches, nowhere near Google's whopping 65 percent [source: Nielsen]. It's still not close, even if you add in Microsoft's new 10-year search engine partner Yahoo, at 14 percent.

Google has made an attempt to compete with Microsoft's Office software suite with its Web-based productivity software called Google Docs. Google Docs includes a word processor, spreadsheet application, slideshow presentation maker, and even a form builder and drawing tools, all with the portability of access from any Web browser. It also makes it easy to collaborate with others on a project, with the ability for both users to edit the same document, even at the same time. Google Docs is not as robust and feature-rich as Microsoft Office software, though, and depends on Google for privacy and availability.

Microsoft fired back at Google with Office Live Workspace (OLW), free online collaboration versions of its Microsoft Office products. OLW readily works with files in proprietary Microsoft Office formats for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Plus, the SkyDrive gives you 25 GB of space in which to store files [source: Microsoft]. But Microsoft didn't just put OLW together overnight; it leveraged the power of its well-established (though costly) SharePoint software to create the new free Web service [source: Foley].

Both Google and Microsoft have mobile operating system platforms. Yet neither company is close to overtaking the iPhone from Apple, which has close to 60 percent of the market [source: Quantcast]. However, Google Android is also growing rapidly, and it already has twice the share of Windows Mobile [source: Net Applications]. Will Windows Mobile survive? Microsoft is cleverly looking past Android and taking aim directly at the iPhone in promoting its Windows Phone 7, to be released in late 2010.

Besides the mobile platforms, both Google and Microsoft offer Web-based e-mail platforms. Both are investing millions of dollars into cloud computing solutions. And both recognize the growing importance of the Internet for the average consumer. Google may have an advantage over Microsoft because it's a Web-based company; however, Microsoft has decades of experience in application development and consumer research. Let's look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of each company.

3 Good Reasons To Buy an Open-PC

For many small business users, all the rational arguments for using open source software like Linux make a great deal of sense: It's free, customizable, compatible, and it's free of vendor lock-in, to name just a few.

When it comes down to the wire at purchase time, however, many fall prey to one or more of the frequently perpetuated myths out there, and vague fears of incompatibility or a lack of support or something else drive them right back into Redmond's waiting arms.

One way to make the notion of a Linux-based computer less worrisome for such users is to buy hardware preloaded with Ubuntu, Canonical's version of the open source operating system. That can go a long way toward ensuring that everything "just works" out of the box, and I've already discussed good ways and places to do this.

As of December, however, another option emerged that's well worth checking out--it's even better, in fact, from the perspective of software freedom. It's called the Open-PC, and it offers "a PC for everyday use built by the Linux community for the Linux community," in the project's own words.

With three models to choose from--two built and sold in Europe and one through ThinkPenguin in the United States--the Open-PC has several key advantages that could make it the right choice for your small business. Here are just a few to consider.

1. It's Entirely Free

You know how when you use proprietary software like Microsoft's, you tend to have to agree to an end-user license agreement that restricts with an iron hand what you can and can't do with the software? Well, the Open-PC more or less does away with that.

Only free software is used in Open-PC devices, and that includes those rascally drivers, which can on occasion cause a problem when you least expect it. All software was chosen by the Linux community through a series of surveys, in fact.

In Europe, Open-PCs reportedly use the OpenSUSE Linux distribution, according to Free Software Magazine, while the U.S. version uses Ubuntu. Either way, KDE is the standard desktop. The most important point, of course, is that you're free to alter and customize the software to suit your business's needs.

Also worth noting, though, is that--as with any instance of Linux--you're also relatively free from viruses and malware. That kind of freedom may just be worth even more, in fact.

2. It Just Works

Specs on the Open-PC sold in the United States by ThinkPenguin include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM, Intel GMA 3150 Accelerated Graphics, Realtek RTL8103EL Fast Ethernet and 4 USB ports, for example.

Perhaps even more important, however, is that--similar in many ways to a preloaded Ubuntu machine--energy-efficient Open-PCs are preconfigured to your specifications and arrive customer-ready. Only fully documented hardware is used--chosen, once again, through surveys of the Linux community--and it's designed for ease of use, even by novices. Gone can be all those fears about getting everything up and running smoothly.

3. Support Is Included

Adding further to that peace of mind is that if, by chance, you do encounter a problem, telephone and email support are included in the Open-PC's price. For those reluctant to entrust support to the community--excellent as that resource tends to be--that extra reassurance can be significant.

Bottom line? With prices starting at $249 in the United States, the Open-PC's price isn't insignificant. On the other hand, if you factor in the inclusion of support, the "just works" factor and an included donation to the KDE project, the Open-PC could be a compelling choice.

Chrome 10 v. Firefox 4: Open Source Browser Battle

by Mr. Keir Thomas Keir Thomas – Thu Mar 10, 1:41 pm ET

I decided to take a look at the two open source browser platforms to see which is best for business users. My examination was decidedly unscientific, and we shouldn't draw too many conclusions. If nothing else, pitting a release candidate against a final release might be a little unfair, although at this stage we can expect Firefox 4 to be ready for the public, barring a few small bugs here and there.

For my test bed I opted for a low-powered computer--an old Intel Core 2 Duo processor laptop with 2GB of RAM, running 32-bit Windows Vista. The Net connection was 6GBit DSL. I created a fresh Windows account for testing purposes too, to avoid performance being impacted by "cruft."

Screen Real Estate

Mobile workers require a browser that doesn't eat up screen space with user-interface elements, especially if they're using netbook computers. A criticism of the 3.x releases of Firefox was that its navigation buttons were a little too large. Well, that's been fixed in version 4, which overhauls the interface arguably for the better. The program has also switched to a status bar at the bottom of the screen that disappears when it's not needed, just like Chrome.

As you can see from the screen shot below, both browsers are pretty much neck-and-neck when it comes to space taken up by tabs and controls. Perhaps Firefox is a pixel or two greedier but that won't make any difference in the real world, and Firefox also has a "small icons" setting which saves a little space. For some reason Chrome opts for a much larger font to display URLs. I like this, but it's down to personal preference and it makes no actual difference to the space taken up by the controls.

Both Firefox and Chrome had easily accessible full-screen modes that slid the interface elements and Windows taskbar out of the way and dedicated the entire screen to web pages. Sadly, neither lost the right-hand scrollbar, which could easily have disappeared in the same way the status bar does, only reappearing when it's moused over.

Web App Performance and Compatibility

Looking at compatibility with HTML standards, along with Javascript performance, the aim is to judge how effectively the browser runs Web applications not only today, but also those that might arrive in the future.

I used various test Websites and thereby wandered into a minefield. No test is perfect, or representative, and in some significant ways these results should be taken with a pinch of salt. However, to the best of my knowledge, we currently lack "real world" benchmarking. We can't yet test performance in Google Docs, for example.

First, I gave both browsers a run-through with the Acid3 test, which tests overall compatibility with HTML and Javascript standards. Both are vital to the correct functioning of Web apps.

Chrome was the winner here, with a score of 100/100, although the Firefox release candidate was close behind with 97/100.

Next, I ran the browsers through The HTML5 Test, which tests compatibility with the forthcoming HTML5 standard. HTML5 aims to revolutionize Web applications, although it's very much a work in progress.

Again, Chrome was the winner with 288 points, plus 13 bonus points out of a potential total of 400 points. Firefox lagged behind with 240 points, plus 9 bonus points.

Finally, I ran the Sunspider 0.9.1 benchmark, which tests out-and-out Javascript performance. Because this is a performance test, I made sure only one tab was open in each browser, and closed any other open applications. I also ran each test three times consecutively, noting only the best score achieved.

Chrome scored 375.4ms, but, with lower scores being better, Firefox was the winner, finishing the test in 345.7ms. However, the scores are so close as to be practically indistinguishable.

Next page: Working across multiple computers, and proxy friendliness

through a proxy server, depending on how your network administrator likes to run things. Mobile workers might also do this to prevent others from snooping on their Wi-Fi traffic.

Google Chrome has no proxy controls of its own. Instead, it obeys the overall Windows settings, and clicking the proxy configuration option within the Under the Hood settings dialog simply opens the Windows networking dialog box.

Firefox has its own proxy settings, which you can access via the Network tab of the Advanced section within the Options dialog box. However, it can still obey the overall system proxy settings, just like Chrome.

I prefer Firefox's approach because it gives me the freedom to alter settings without having to jump through the hoops of Windows User Account Control dialog boxes, or cause problems for other applications that need Net access, such as chat programs.

There's a range of extensions and add-ons for both Mozilla is pushing hard to get Firefox onto non-computer devices, such as tablets, with its Mobile Firefox project. At present Google is limiting Chrome to the mainstream desktop operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Mobile Firefox includes the Weave function, which brings syncing to portable devices, so despite the difficulty of getting things working, I'm tempted to chalk up this category as a win for Firefox.

Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010

Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.

These technologies impact the organization's long-term plans, programs and initiatives. They may be strategic because they have matured to broad market use or because they enable strategic advantage from early adoption.

“Companies should factor the top 10 technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key questions and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years,” said David Cearley, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “However, this does not necessarily mean adoption and investment in all of the technologies. They should determine which technologies will help and transform their individual business initiatives.”

The top 10 strategic technologies for 2010 include:

Cloud Computing. Cloud computing is a style of computing that characterizes a model in which providers deliver a variety of IT-enabled capabilities to consumers. Cloud-based services can be exploited in a variety of ways to develop an application or a solution. Using cloud resources does not eliminate the costs of IT solutions, but does re-arrange some and reduce others. In addition, consuming cloud services enterprises will increasingly act as cloud providers and deliver application, information or business process services to customers and business partners.

Advanced Analytics. Optimization and simulation is using analytical tools and models to maximize business process and decision effectiveness by examining alternative outcomes and scenarios, before, during and after process implementation and execution. This can be viewed as a third step in supporting operational business decisions. Fixed rules and prepared policies gave way to more informed decisions powered by the right information delivered at the right time, whether through customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) or other applications. The new step is to provide simulation, prediction, optimization and other analytics, not simply information, to empower even more decision flexibility at the time and place of every business process action. The new step looks into the future, predicting what can or will happen.

Client Computing. Virtualization is bringing new ways of packaging client computing applications and capabilities. As a result, the choice of a particular PC hardware platform, and eventually the OS platform, becomes less critical. Enterprises should proactively build a five to eight year strategic client computing roadmap outlining an approach to device standards, ownership and support; operating system and application selection, deployment and update; and management and security plans to manage diversity.

IT for Green. IT can enable many green initiatives. The use of IT, particularly among the white collar staff, can greatly enhance an enterprise’s green credentials. Common green initiatives include the use of e-documents, reducing travel and teleworking. IT can also provide the analytic tools that others in the enterprise may use to reduce energy consumption in the transportation of goods or other carbon management activities.

Reshaping the Data Center. In the past, design principles for data centers were simple: Figure out what you have, estimate growth for 15 to 20 years, then build to suit. Newly-built data centers often opened with huge areas of white floor space, fully powered and backed by a uninterruptible power supply (UPS), water-and air-cooled and mostly empty. However, costs are actually lower if enterprises adopt a pod-based approach to data center construction and expansion. If 9,000 square feet is expected to be needed during the life of a data center, then design the site to support it, but only build what’s needed for five to seven years. Cutting operating expenses, which are a nontrivial part of the overall IT spend for most clients, frees up money to apply to other projects or investments either in IT or in the business itself.

Social Computing. Workers do not want two distinct environments to support their work – one for their own work products (whether personal or group) and another for accessing “external” information. Enterprises must focus both on use of social software and social media in the enterprise and participation and integration with externally facing enterprise-sponsored and public communities. Do not ignore the role of the social profile to bring communities together.

Security – Activity Monitoring. Traditionally, security has focused on putting up a perimeter fence to keep others out, but it has evolved to monitoring activities and identifying patterns that would have been missed before. Information security professionals face the challenge of detecting malicious activity in a constant stream of discrete events that are usually associated with an authorized user and are generated from multiple network, system and application sources. At the same time, security departments are facing increasing demands for ever-greater log analysis and reporting to support audit requirements. A variety of complimentary (and sometimes overlapping) monitoring and analysis tools help enterprises better detect and investigate suspicious activity – often with real-time alerting or transaction intervention. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these tools, enterprises can better understand how to use them to defend the enterprise and meet audit requirements.

Flash Memory. Flash memory is not new, but it is moving up to a new tier in the storage echelon. Flash memory is a semiconductor memory device, familiar from its use in USB memory sticks and digital camera cards. It is much faster than rotating disk, but considerably more expensive, however this differential is shrinking. At the rate of price declines, the technology will enjoy more than a 100 percent compound annual growth rate during the new few years and become strategic in many IT areas including consumer devices, entertainment equipment and other embedded IT systems. In addition, it offers a new layer of the storage hierarchy in servers and client computers that has key advantages including space, heat, performance and ruggedness.

Virtualization for Availability. Virtualization has been on the list of top strategic technologies in previous years. It is on the list this year because Gartner emphases new elements such as live migration for availability that have longer term implications. Live migration is the movement of a running virtual machine (VM), while its operating system and other software continue to execute as if they remained on the original physical server. This takes place by replicating the state of physical memory between the source and destination VMs, then, at some instant in time, one instruction finishes execution on the source machine and the next instruction begins on the destination machine.

However, if replication of memory continues indefinitely, but execution of instructions remains on the source VM, and then the source VM fails the next instruction would now place on the destination machine. If the destination VM were to fail, just pick a new destination to start the indefinite migration, thus making very high availability possible. 

The key value proposition is to displace a variety of separate mechanisms with a single “dial” that can be set to any level of availability from baseline to fault tolerance, all using a common mechanism and permitting the settings to be changed rapidly as needed. Expensive high-reliability hardware, with fail-over cluster software and perhaps even fault-tolerant hardware could be dispensed with, but still meet availability needs. This is key to cutting costs, lowering complexity, as well as increasing agility as needs shift.

Mobile Applications. By year-end 2010, 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce providing a rich environment for the convergence of mobility and the Web. There are already many thousands of applications for platforms such as the Apple iPhone, in spite of the limited market and need for unique coding. It may take a newer version that is designed to flexibly operate on both full PC and miniature systems, but if the operating system interface and processor architecture were identical, that enabling factor would create a huge turn upwards in mobile application availability.

“This list should be used as a starting point and companies should adjust their list based on their industry, unique business needs and technology adoption mode,” said Carl Claunch, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “When determining what may be right for each company, the decision may not have anything to do with a particular technology. In other cases, it will be to continue investing in the technology at the current rate. In still other cases, the decision may be to test/pilot or more aggressively adopt/deploy the technology.”