Posting Date: September 24, 2003

The Coming Search Engine War, Part 1 (ClickZ) -- "Google is the king of search. There, I said it. It's good to be king, but, as Netscape learned, it's often hard to stay king. Microsoft is making rumblings it intends to launch its own search engine and join this battle. Google and Yahoo! should be concerned."

Reader Comments...

What's Yahoo?!?

Posted by: Jim on September 24, 2003 10:29 AM

The precedents quoted in the article are not as threatening to Google as the article makes out:

MS used their control of the OS to unseat Netscape - and got into an anti-trust case as a result. And Netscape shot itself in the foot by releasing Netscape 4 (poor standards support, buggy) to complete against IE 4.
MSN is the default search engine for IE but this didn't stop Google becoming the search king.
Lotus were wrong-footed by the switch to Windows, bu this won't apply to Google because Google works with any browser. And, while Lotus 1-2-3 was a very good spreadsheet, AmiPro (buggy, and you needed to understand WP sylesheets to make it work) and Approach (dBase with a GUI) were no match for Word and Access.
Google so far show none of the complacency by which other market leaders let MS overtake them.

Google will take MS seriously. They should be OK provided they don't panic as Netscape did and release a defective product.

Posted by: Philip Chalmers on September 24, 2003 04:09 PM

I love Google because they invented a better mousetrap. I'm a heavy-duty search power user kinda guy. If Microsoft makes a better tool I'll use it and thank them for it. Some people forget that there was a time when people thought web search was "owned" by Yahoo and that investments in new search entrants were mere sacrifices to the Gods.

Competition is good. Competition brought us Google. Competition is good. Competition will either bring us a better Google or a Google killer that we'll love even more than Google. Competition is good.

Microsoft is not immune to competition.

The Clickz author says "I argue that Microsoft's battle against Google will be waged not with technology or features, but with marketing and product positioning. It is a marketing battle, not a technology showdown."

BUZZ! Wrong answer! Google doesn't sell technology or features any more than Coca-Cola sells soft drinks. Google sells an experience. Marketing won't help MS kill Google. They have to deliver a better (or at least comparable) experience and only then does marketing play a role.

Google should (and I'm sure does) have MS on their list of competitors. If I were them though, I'd be afraid of the next Google - the small competitor that comes out of nowhere with a compelling product and end-user experience that can't be easily mimicked.

Posted by: Lyle, Lyle, Croc O' Lyle on September 24, 2003 10:59 PM

Real users are sheep. They go wherever their "Home" button takes them. If Microsoft wants to own search it need only flex its muscle and Google will be the Macintosh of the web world.

Posted by: Snollygoster on September 25, 2003 12:00 AM

My 65 year old dad remarked the other day "Mr. Google is my friend. I have a question, I type it in, I get an answer."

Users are not sheep. They want to get their jobs to be easier, or their motorhomes fixed cheaply, or quicker information on the new medical condition they just got diagnosed with. They are not sheep, talk, and the word has and will get around.

Posted by: on September 25, 2003 08:35 AM

You fail to mention that you reconfigured daddy's brower to launch Google as his homepage. If you had not intervened, he would still be grazing from MSN.com, Netscape.com or his ISP's opening page. Users are so much like sheep I make a tidy sum selling gold-plated shears to web developers. If talk had the power to change the world, we'd be debating whether Mac or Linux is better and Bill Gates would be serving my kids fries at the drive-thru.

Posted by: Bah! Bah! on September 25, 2003 10:51 AM

The fact that your pappy thinks of "Mr. Google" as a person indicates Pop is a sheep and Google is carrying a crook. Or maybe Mr. Google is the wolf. Hmmmm.

It's people. Soylent green is made out of people! They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

Posted by: Snollygoster on September 25, 2003 10:58 AM

Good grief. I have *not* reconfigured anything on Dad's system. That was the point - even in the retired crowd Googles reputation is getting around.

And his "Mr. Google" comment was a joke.

Your attitude towards people is dismal. I whoever it is that is saddled with using whatever it is that you help make.

Feh - used to be some good discussions here. Looks like Slashdot is spilling over now. Cya.

Posted by: on September 26, 2003 02:04 PM

That's right, the Slashdot crowd is here and your name is Anonymous Coward.

Posted by: Snollygoster on September 26, 2003 08:10 PM

To change the subject, what's your take on http://vivisimo.com/ search engine model?

Posted by: Dino DRomero on September 29, 2003 03:01 PM

Google is so far ahead of the posse, it doesn't need to worry. Yet.

See my frequent postings on the search engine wars.

Posted by: Michael Heraghty on September 30, 2003 01:02 PM

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