OP: The Differences Between Google & Microsoft
Late last night Google announced that it is working on a Chrome operating system. As was the case with the Chrome browser, the company plans to focus on speed and simplicity. Users want to boot up their computers and get online as quickly as possible and Google wants to help them do that. Similar to Chrome, its all open source and like Chrome, all anyone can talk about is what the news will mean for Microsoft.
You guys don't need the history lesson, so I'll skip the part where we go into huge detail about Google's launch as a search engine before it moved onto Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Calendar, Gtalk, Google Docs, Latitude and everything else Google does and just ask you this, what's the difference between Microsoft trying to be everything at once and Google trying to be everything at once?
Over the last two years, people have been getting more and more excited about the prospect of a Google operating system. With the arrival of Android, that chatter has died down a little and instead, we're waiting with bated breath for the first Android-powered netbook or laptop, not to mention all the Android handsets on the horizon. That said, the eager anticipation is still there; we're still waiting for an OS from a company that made our search engine.
Then there’s the flip side that; a significant amount people criticize Microsoft for trying to be too many things at once. Windows, Bing, Internet Explorer; they hate monolithic Microsoft, but monolithic, colorful Google is a great idea.
Both companies have a ton of great products. Google supplies my browser, personal email and calendar and Microsoft supplies my word processor, office email client and OS. That said, to me it seems like Microsoft's efforts have made the company spread itself too thin, but Google's efforts give the impression of the company slowly but surely spreading out like some gross blob in a horror movie. It won't be long before the company enters another market, and then another, but why is it that no matter how hard I try, I can't bring myself to have a problem with it? I gave my brother a bell and asked him his opinion on this. Being a tech blogger, anthropologist and social networking guru/PR at a large European e-tailer he had this to add: It's not about perceived value, it's about perceived cost. Google offers the vast majority of its services for free, Microsoft charges you cold, hard cash. If a Google service stops working, it's not a tragedy because you weren't paying for it anyway. The opposite side of the coin is you spend a lump of cash putting MS Office and Windows on every machine in your house, an update knocks the whole thing down like a house of cards and you wait x amount of time for a fix. While you're waiting you think about the money you spent on the product that should be working but isn't.
What do you guys think? This one is definitely personal opinion. So, are you celebrating Google's foray into the OS market or are you fashioning yourself a tin-foil hat and refusing to let Google into yet another area of your computing experience? Further, do you think there's any difference between what Google is trying to do and what Microsoft is trying to do and most importantly, do you have a problem with the whole "one company for everything" concept? Let us know in the comments below!
Microsoft is that old guy in your office, who's been around forever. He's not the best, mind you, not even close, but he keeps anyone from entering his niche areas through ruthless office politics. Nobody likes this guy, he's out of new ideas, and barely gets the job done... but, we keep him because there is no other alternative, since nobody can replace him without someone, magically, figuring out all the very specific niche things he knows.
Like the old bastard, Microsoft has its claws sinked in and isn't going anywhere. We can loath them, love them, its really irrelevant, and thats what bothers me. They have such a monopoly on the OS and Office software markets, that competition with them isn't really competing, its more like fighting over kitchen scraps.
Google... well, Google feels different. They're getting huge, but they're not a Microsoft yet, and at least they have some new ideas left. They dominate the internet add space, in a near monolithic fashion, but slight competition from Yahoo and Microsoft keeps this from making me lose sleep. But, Google's definitely worrying me with their data mining practices, which are even worse than Microsoft's.
Both companies, to me at least, are a testimate to how damaging the US patent system is, and excellent examples on how a company can leverage patents to become a monopoly power in different markets.
So... my TLDR version: Fuck them both, but I hate Microsoft more.
oh and more OS's is good. maybe then i won't have to pay $200 for an OS.
You don't pay for Google's software. (yet)
People like free stuff.
P.S. -- I'm still upset that he Justice Dept. didn't "break up" Micro$oft into two companies: operating system and apps. I think that would have been best for everyone, including Micro$oft.
People like Google right now because their stuff is largely free, but if/when their productivity/OS software becomes the mainstream stuff of choice, they will start charging because they can....just as any business should.
The problem with Microsoft is that it's constantly changing. Just as the image built around XP looks completely different than Vista, and that from Windows 7, Microsoft seems to file through something different every year: MSN, Windows Search, Windows Live, Windows Live Search, Bing; the thready shiny blue and green look of Vista that carried over to the web versus the solid minimalistic look Windows 7 is aiming for. I just hope that they stick with something and stop having an identity crisis.
As for the actual Chrome OS deal, the more the merrier.
It's hard to say how well this OS will work with the collage of hardware inside of PC's, but I'm sure Google will make this product work and work really well.
Microsoft has never been pushed to make a solid product since they control the majority of the market. Pretty soon this will not be a factor.
Microsoft is that old guy in your office, who's been around forever. He's not the best, mind you, not even close, but he keeps anyone from entering his niche areas through ruthless office politics. Nobody likes this guy, he's out of new ideas, and barely gets the job done... but, we keep him because there is no other alternative, since nobody can replace him without someone, magically, figuring out all the very specific niche things he knows.
Like the old bastard, Microsoft has its claws sinked in and isn't going anywhere. We can loath them, love them, its really irrelevant, and thats what bothers me. They have such a monopoly on the OS and Office software markets, that competition with them isn't really competing, its more like fighting over kitchen scraps.
Google... well, Google feels different. They're getting huge, but they're not a Microsoft yet, and at least they have some new ideas left. They dominate the internet add space, in a near monolithic fashion, but slight competition from Yahoo and Microsoft keeps this from making me lose sleep. But, Google's definitely worrying me with their data mining practices, which are even worse than Microsoft's.
Both companies, to me at least, are a testimate to how damaging the US patent system is, and excellent examples on how a company can leverage patents to become a monopoly power in different markets.
So... my TLDR version: Fuck them both, but I hate Microsoft more.
The people at M.S. that make the decisions are older guys trying to figure out what features they can throw in to thier "new" product so they can justify to their customers the price they are going to pay.
Google on the other hand simply want to develop the products that THEY want, then they give that product to whoever wants it. Do you think google got a suggestion from a customer to develop google earth?? No, probably not. They wanted to make it, so they did, then they gave it away.
M.S. seems to be trying to get a little more progressive recently but I just don't know how much that is going to change. After all, they are one of oldest players in the game and Google is the #1 draft pick right out of college. New is better to most people.
Personally I think both companies put out solid products (that's right, even MS has quality products, its just fashionable to insult them). However solid products aside, they are both getting way too big and make me think of the old Sci Fi novels where companies control the world.
Thank you for summarizing the current problems with the way we approaching the OS.
Every time different OS is discussed we are talking about compatibility, but nobody bothers to define what is. For example Judguh is understanding compatibility as running programs design to run only in Windows, but I would define the compatibility to run any program on platform of my choice. Here is the result of this difference. Windows can run only programs that are design for Windows. Linux can run native Linux programs and using library like Wine can run many Windows programs. So based on that in my book Linux is more compatible then Windows.
If we can switch our point of view for a minute we can see what Google is trying. They are going to build OS that contain two main components: One is the Linux kernel and second is the web browser that will run any app that complies with Internet standards. What will happen is that standard compliant apps will run on Chrome OS and other OSes that support the standards. This will make the app development much easier and faster. You don’t need to install any apps on your PC, you don’t need to resolve any conflicts between the apps. The app developers will handle this for you. The OS will go back to its roots and primary function to run your hardware. Here Google is tapping into the great work from FOSS communities and Linux kernel it self. I don’t think Google is trying to take over our lives, just to oppose MS direction to control everything in the OS. They are attacking MS’s monopoly and this is only good for us. MS is going to re-invent them self if they want to stay primary player in the future.
If their privacy policy changed and became more restricted, I'd jump for joy.
Compared to microsoft, one word, MONEY, they only go where they smell money, they invest where the money is already active.
Try again. Microsoft has programming languages. They have tons of APIs (DirectX, MFC, Win32, etc). They have a shit ton of software from Visual Studio to Office to Visio etc. They have a shit ton of server software from SQL Server to Sharepoint to Windows server. Microsoft also has a games division (hello? xbox).
So, you REAAALLY boiled Microsoft down to nothing when clearly they have way more serious apps than Google.
The major difference I see is that Google is big into open source while Microsoft is hugely proprietary.