Gates on Google

EnsignExtra writes " A long and interesting article in Fortune on the battle between Gates and Google. 'Forced to watch Google's stock soar the way Microsoft's used to, and Brin and Page enjoy their roles as tech's new rock stars, Gates brings to the fight a ferocity that nobody has seen since the Netscape war a decade ago. Their popularity gets under his skin. "There's companies that are just so cool that you just can't even deal with it," he says sarcastically, suggesting that Google is nothing more than the latest fad, adding, "At least they know to wear black."...Trying to build a Google killer, however, has turned out to be truly humbling for Microsoft.'"

The ultimate fight

[baadger]

Google vs [googlefight.com]
Microsoft ..the fight concluded.

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[Anonymous Coward]

If Gates used Linux he could just "killall -9 Google"

Letter to Google...

[0110011001110101]

Deer Brin and Page,

When i fiRst stol DOs back in the day, peeple were schtupid... and I culd fewl them into thinkin I was an uber-Geek with my fancy pants cummand line stuff.

You would'nt beelive the a$$ i was gettin with the monay I was brinign in early on, chicks dig my big brain and fat pokets.

Anyhooo the point here is you guys are hip and cool and everythin I wanted to be.. and the azz train had definetly left this station.. so throw an old dawg a bone, stop comin out with all them new feetures every day so ole bIll can get some eh?

If you can kick some of them new fangled ideas over to ole bill every now and again, I promise to license a few of them copies of illegil windoze you have rollin round over there... we can all win!

Sincereleeley,

Mr. Gates (the kids call me 'money' for short)

Thanks googledot!

[wahgnube]

From the article: "Indeed, four years have passed since Microsoft released a piece of software that generated the kind of buzz Google seems to generate every month."

No small thanks to our very own googledotdotorg :).

Re:Ugh...

[Anonymous Coward]

McDonalds?

Re:GOffice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are they going to make any games, a first person Googler perhaps?

My Favourite Quote:

[md81544]

My favourite quote from the article:

In fall 2003, Microsoft briefly considered buying Google, only to realize that even if Brin, Page, and their board could have been persuaded to sell--which seemed unlikely--Microsoft would have been left to explain to the world why it was now running a search engine built entirely on Linux instead of Windows.

LOL

Re:Innovate, not copy

[91degrees]

Microsoft is so totally innovative. After inventing the computer, they wrote BASIC. Before that there were no progamming languages. Then they brought out MS-DOS which allowed people to run programs without typing them in first. After that, they invented the Windows GUI. Then a few years later they came up with 3D graphics, then created the internet (Al Gore was working fro MS at the time).

See. Lots of original ideas there.

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[Scruffeh]

I think it's because Dogs need constant attention and maintenence, much like MS' software

There Can Be More Than One

[lake2112]

It's quite scary to think about the complete reliance that many people place on two companies: Microsoft and Google. The allure of Google is now gone, as they have shown their allegiance to the almighty dollar. I feel like this is the beginning of Independence Day. Google is placing their ships over all strategic points (Search, Webmail, Browsers, Maps, etc.) There is some secret countdown and once all the pieces are in place BAM! We will face a corporate wrath the likes of which we have never seen.

There's no need to fear...

[dpilot]

When criminals in this world appear
and break the laws that they should fear
and frighten all who see or hear
the cry goes up both far and near
for Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog!

Credits to: http://www.delorie.com/users/dj/tidbits/underdog_l yrics.html [delorie.com] (#2 hit on Google "underdog theme song" search, #1 had a .wav link. Add "lyrics" as a search term and that link is still #2, and #1 is: http://www.wickedcoolnews.com/underdoglyrics.html [wickedcoolnews.com] which also has the lyrics.)

Re:Job Advertisements Tell The Truth

[Quixote]

The point everyone's missing is: what was Gates doing looking at Google's help-wanted page? Things not going so well at Microsoft, Bill? Or is sharing a cubicle with Ballmer starting to bother you?

;-)

Re:The best Google Ad Ever!

[khujifig]

...they're so cool you could keep a side of meat in them for a month, so hip you have difficulty seeing over their pelvis...

(sorry, Douglas)

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[lachlan76]

Well it keeps to the spirit of their software! It just works.

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[ricotest]

Its ambitious new operating system, code-named Longhorn, is more than a year late, even after having been scaled back. Linux, the free operating system that Gates once scoffed at, is fighting Microsoft for share in both the server and desktop markets, forcing the company to do the unthinkable: offer customer discounts. Last year it had to spend $1 billion to rewrite thousands of lines of code to make its programs less susceptible to viruses. Its Xbox gaming console is winning raves from players but has yet to make serious money. Meanwhile, Apple has stolen the show in online music with its hugely popular iPod and iTunes Music Store. Plus, the recently released Firefox browser, which can be downloaded free, has forced Gates to reconstitute an Internet Explorer development team.

And as Microsoft is getting attacked on all fronts, am I the only one smiling from ear to ear?

Re:Innovate, not copy

[IncarnadineConor]

What about Bob?

Re:Maybe some truth there

[Tim Browse]

"If you want to be the best,
If you want to beat the rest,
Medication's what you need..."

Re:Maybe some truth there

[XxtraLarGe]

In fact, I thought the XBox was still losing money for Microsoft. Didn't the XBox have only one profitble quarter?

BTW, did anyone else notice that MS slashed their R&D budget? How do they expect to thrive in new markets if they don't try new stuff? You can only leverage a desktop monopoly so far...

I thought they had a free R&D facility in Cupertino, CA?

Re:Google by choice,MSsearch by force

[Therlin]

You downloaded Google? Did it fit on a floppy or did you need a Zip disk?

Re:MS is dying...

[eric_brissette]

Sounds like the headline of the next John C. Dvorak article.

Re:GOffice?

[Speare]

Well, what google is doing is DoubleClick * 10^100, and everyone's hunkydory with it.

Hm, let's see.

googol
n : a cardinal number represented as 1 followed by 100 zeros (ten raised to the power of a hundred)

I guess they're finally starting to make apparent their business model.

GLinux?

[brontus3927]

According to TFA, Gates read Google's help-wanted listings and saw that Google was looking for people with experience in OS design. Does that mean there might be a GLinux in the works?

Imagine if Google did indeed do this, but took it a step further and made their on WM (GWindow Manager?) so that Google's services were integrated into the distro. Clicking the mail link on the desktop would lead you to GMail (possibly read through their GBrowser). You could do google searches directly from a taskbar widget. You would use Picassa for your pics. A future "GOffice" to word proccessing, spreadsheets, etc. Maybe the future would see a Gplayer?

Oh shit, this is starting to sound like Windows...except it would be free...but you would probably have an AdWords pane in your file manager...I think my head is going to explode now

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[Snarfy]

Why would he be upset when his own search tool [msn.com] can be used to search for firefox?

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[KutuluWare]

Well it keeps to the spirit of their software! It just works.

...once

Huh?

[Mr. Underbridge]

Do you think Gates is upset that google can be used to search for "firefox"? The truth is, changing out of windows would be like trying to change from gasoline to power cars- all the vehicles out there have internal combustion engines, and the infastructure to fuel them is in place- so even if we have a great alternative (biodiesel, cars that run on boogers... whatever), it would require a wholesale hardware change... The changeover period would be rough.... As much fun as it is to love to hate Microsoft, they are successful- sort of like when you make fun of some guy with a gold chain and a Firebird- sure he is an a--ho--, but he gets all the ladies....

I have no idea what that was supposed to mean. Mix in a few more metaphors and it might just make sense.

Re:Microsoft Will Fail - Tales From The Inside

[Anonymous Coward]

Mark my words...the M$ search engine project and it's (imho) inevitable failure will be the death knell for M$.

If you are wrong, we'll never believe an A.C. again.

Re:Microsoft's Underdog

[daeley]

--DOINK!--

It looks like you're trying to destroy another company! Would you like to:

a) Buy it and assimilate it into your company, then claim to the media that this constitutes "innovation."

b) Buy it and lock the employees into their buildings to starve to death once the vending machines give out.

c) Buy it and send Ballmer over to annoy the hell out of them.

d) Buy a country and send its armed forces to wipe all assets of the company from the face of the Earth.

Re:Microsoft Will Fail - Tales From The Inside

[sopuli]

Maybe I could google for it.

Yes, just google for worst search engine [google.com].

Re:Are they completely out of touch?

[coolGuyZak]

But the frightening thing I've found is that whenever he talks about it, he always talks about "the next version." We should go ahead and use more of it in our production systems because of what they're going to put into it "soon." ... Unfortunately, they are all either in Alpha or Beta, or are planned to come out soon.

Sounds like the same thing I do with OSS ;)

Re:Maybe some truth there

[octavist]

And also he's ticked about Google's corporate slogan, "Don't Be Evil", since it is an obvious take-off on Microsoft's corporate slogan...

Re:INtegrated google world.

[dave1g]

While I agree, if you watch the google slashdot articles there are 2 camps, the ones that love them, and the ones who think that google will have too much power with all their advertising and information on each person using their services, this is the tinfoil crowd.

And then there are the people who were tinfoil freaks but are addicted to google and they are having a crisis like a 13 yr old gay son of 2 ultra christian conservative parents.