标题: GOOGLE'S LATEST MOVE KEEPS THE TECHIES GUESSING [打印本页] 作者: tauringhuang. 时间: 2008-9-4 20:41 标题: GOOGLE'S LATEST MOVE KEEPS THE TECHIES GUESSING Silicon Valley was buzzing yesterday with two explanations for the latest eye-catching twist in the technology industry's most prominent battle: Google's decision to launch its own web browser in competition with Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer.
One version held that this was a defensive move designed to prevent Microsoft from siphoning away Google's audience.
If the browser is the gateway through which internet users find Google's search and other online applications, abandoning this important piece of PC real estate to an arch-rival was not a long-term option.
The other interpretation, however, suggested something far more ambitious: that this was the latest element in an attack on Microsoft's core desktop software business that could eventually pose a threat to the Windows monopoly itself.
Google, not surprisingly, ducked any suggestion that it was primarily motivated by competition concerns as it unveiled Chrome, an open source browser that it released yesterday in more than 100 countries.
According to Google, this was simply an attempt to stimulate more technological innovation in browsers. The faster, more stable and more secure the browser, the better the experience for users of web-based applications – and therefore the greater the likely use of all online applications, including Google's.
The rest of the tech world was having none of it.
Proponents of the defensive interpretation warned that Microsoft has a track record of trying to use its IE browser to hurt rivals. IE7, released two years ago, was initially designed to include a box taking users directly to Microsoft's own search engine.
IE8, a test version of which was released last week, includes a feature that could hamper Google's attempt to build a display advertising business – though that could also hurt others, including Microsoft itself.
“This will always be a threat for Google,” said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Collins Stewart. By tying its browser to Windows, Microsoft is always assured of a large market share, he added.
However, until now Google has managed to counter Microsoft's Windows distribution advantage without resorting to creating its own browser. The battle has been waged on two fronts. One has involved a concerted campaign in Washington to prevent Microsoft from gaining unfair advantage.
The other has been to buy distribution for its Toolbar – a browser plug-in that guides users to Google services – through deals with Dell and other PC makers.
If the launch of Chrome was not primarily defensive, then how aggressively has Google moved against Microsoft? “It would be wrong to see this as a browser, it is very much an operating system,” said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land and a long-time Google watcher.作者: tauringhuang. 时间: 2008-9-4 20:41
According to this view, Chrome is a vital ingredient of an expanding range of Google desktop software – including Gears, which enables web applications to run on a PC even when the computer is offline. This range will supply many of the features once associated with operating systems for anyone who is working with an online application. Eventually, said Mr Sullivan, it will become irrelevant to a computer user which operating system is running on their machine – an obvious threat to Windows.
If so, this fits with a gradual encroachment that has seen Google move steadily onto Microsoft's turf. In its early years, Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said that the company did not need its own browser, and that it did not plan to challenge Microsoft applications such as Word with its own online versions since internet applications did not provide as good an experience as desktop software.
All that changed two years ago, when Google moved fully into online applications.
The move was possible, Mr Schmidt said at the time, because browsers had evolved far faster than he had expected. The time has now come for the next phase in this battle, as Google turns its attention back to the browser, and Microsoft's most important software stronghold.