Comments on: Would a Google PC succeed?

By: Google declares total war on Microsoft | Text Technologies

Google declares total war on Microsoft | Text Technologies — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:23:01 +0000

[...] Google-Microsoft war is coming, in a conflict that many people have been expecting — and analyzing — for [...]

By: Curt Monash

Curt Monash — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:50:24 +0000

I don’t see the ad model. Context-less ads in spreadsheets and word processors? What’s the point? Ads with context in the same apps? Spooky!

However, the apps could well provide stickiness for things that can indeed be monetized, such as search.

By: Piyush

Piyush — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:26:25 +0000

Amar,
From a purely rational perspective and as an investor, I would hope Google doesn’t define its objectives in terms of ‘making Microsoft obselete’ as you have suggested. Objectives defined in those terms inevitably don’t emphasise value creation and lead to testosterone influenced and suboptimal decision making and an erosion of shareholder value. Google should continue what it is doing, developing innovative products and extending its lead in its core search business. Whether Microsoft is damaged by it or not is frankly only going to emerge in the next 4-5 years – for now their businesses intersect very loosely.

Microsoft’s single minded determination to crush competitors in the browser market led to it missing out on innovation long term ( how many years till a new IE version ? ) and Sun’s obsession with Microsoft to the detriment of everything else was also one of the reasons for its speactacular downfall. Over-obsessing about a company that isn’t a direct competitor usually seems to guarantee long term failure.

By: Amar

Amar — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:24:37 +0000

Nice article. I was thinking along the same lines for a while.

The more services (Spreadsheets being the latest) I see Google put up for free, the more I get convinced that Google is trying to take Microsoft head on although in a convoluted way. Google is building a brand and at the same time developing many of the tools (some of which cannot be monetized soon and/or easily) we are used to using on our PCs by paying for them.

A way to make Microsoft obsolete is to make the PC (as we know today) obsolete. With all services residing on a distributed server farm (Google bought lot of unused fiber bandwidth also – Dark Fiber), Google can develop and control the communication standards (what Microsoft and Intel did together in the 80s) and later collaborate with firms that can make and sell thin clients to communicate across devices. Google can make a percentage on the units sold and also sell us software bundles (price discriminate) based on what we use and need.

That brings to mind what are they doing selling online ads? This is where I think they are playing a complicated game. Could online ads be a way to make competitors (MSFT) think Google’s into something else or keep them at bay for some time? Does Google think MSFT could gather information about what a user does (preferences based on the Software they use) but could not capitalize on that by connecting end users like you and I with advertisers and products? May be Google is trying to do these two things and more?

By: Piyush Pant

Piyush Pant — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:54:50 +0000

A Google PC may or may not succeed a but the crucial issue is that going into a lower margin business won’t add shareholder value at this point in Google’s life-cycle.
I’ve posted more detail on my blog.

By: monash

monash — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 03:21:49 +0000

Richard,

I have no independent thoughts about desktop Linux interfaces. Go ask somebody geekier than me about that.

I agree that privacy is currently almost a non-issue, but the tipping point in public perceptions about that could come at any time. And do you really want your scrap worksheets you use to calculate your taxes out there somewhere were the government could get its mitts on them?

Maybe the tipping point won’t come at all. If people are comfortable with having all their email and IMs stored on Google/Yahoo/Microsoft/whomever servers, and all their transactional information is already in third-party hands, as is their medical info, what’s left to worry about? Hmmm …

By: Richard Brandt

Richard Brandt — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 19:44:22 +0000

Curt– it’s true that mobile devices would make sense, and Google seems to be moving in that direction. It’s also a young field where Google–or bright young startups–could make inroads. But PC software is still a big business. I’m not about to stop using my PC. I’m a believer in SaaS, so I see a future for Google there.

My faith in Google’s user interface comes from the fact that I find its products easy to use without a manual. And its original interface, its search engine page is the most spare and elegant around. Google knows the value of a spare and easy interface. But I concede that’s different than an application interface. The last version of Linux I tried was difficult, but it’s been a while. What version would you recommend?

Users have shown a surprising disregard for privacy. It depends on Google maintaining a reputation for protecting users’ rights. That doesn’t stop government subpoenas, but I tend to believe that encryption technology could go a long way to solve that problem, if only people would learn to use it properly. Is Google working on any internal encryption software?

Your comments from January are right on the money. Except for the skepticism of Microsoft-like PC software.

Thanks for the comments!