This has been THE topic of conversation in the blogosphere, and mainstream business media, since it was announced. I’m still in favour, and think it offers one of the only possible paths toward a serious competitor to Google in Search and Online Advertising. After all, fundamentally, this is what this deal is about.
One thing that has amazed me is this announcement by Google on their official blog (and in a press release). It strikes me as an incredibly amateur and transparent first response to the news that their two biggest competitors may be combining. It reads like the sort of speculation a junior reporter would put together for a fast deadline on http://news.com.
Anyway, to keep it all in perspective, these are big companies, doing big company things, to other big companies. Their motives are of the purest sort, utter self interest (fortunately, pleasing customers is also in their self interest). In this regard, Google (“Do no evil”) is no different, and while I’m on the subject, neither is Apple. I wish these companies would stop claiming the high ground of Openness (like OpenSocial I presume they mean! yeah, very open).
Technologies trend toward natural monopolies by their very nature, whether that is High Definition video formats, Operating Systems, Advertising Platforms or iTunes music stores. The good news is that things move so fast, and are moving ever faster, that any dominant position is transitional. More than that, it is actually biased against the incumbent, and if IBM wasn’t a good example, then Microsoft certainly is.
For Google to speculate that:
“Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email, IM, and web-based services?”
Amazes me on two fronts, first, that they expect us to believe they would not/are not doing the same thing (especially given their existing Internet monopoly in Advertising), and second, that they of all companies think this is possible. The Internet is not new, and neither is Microsoft’s monopoly, if this were going to happen, it would have by now. The purchase of Yahoo is not going to suddenly make the PC more relevant.
So, Google, next time, put these posts through some time of review process huh? Could I recommend Microsoft SharePoint? We can help <grin>
It’s really damn inconvenient that we were actually convicted of monopolistic practises ’cause now it can be flung at us during any childish tantrum.
This is my favourite take on Google’s fit: http://www.passingnotes.com/archives/2008/02/03/dr-microhoo-or-how-i-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-the-bomb/