Yahoo! and the future of the Internet

The openness of the Internet is what made Google -- and Yahoo! -- possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It's what makes the Internet such an exciting place.

So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. 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? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

This hostile bid was announced on Friday, so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed. We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture. We believe that the interests of Internet users come first -- and should come first -- as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored.

Source: www.Google.com

Google Takes StarOffice For Its Pack

Google is adding Sun Microsystems' StarOffice suite to Google Pack, its freely downloadable collection of productivity software. The software is available immediately.

Google Pack is quite a collection that includes Google Earth, Norton Security Scan, Google Desktop, Firefox with Google Toolbar, Adobe Reader, Skype, RealPlayer and other Google products.

StarOffice is Sun's commercial version of OpenOffice, the open source office suite that is available from Sun for $69. The $69 fee gets you product and technical support from Sun along with indemnification from any legal action.

"That's really what you're paying for," Mark Herring, senior director of marketing for Sun, told Internetnews.com. "If you couldn't care less about support, then Google has a distribution for you."

He added StarOffice also has a few extra features OpenOffice does not have, like an extra spell checker, Web search and some conversion filters. Both support Open Document Format (ODF) and can read Microsoft Office documents.

Rob Helm, director of research for Directions on Microsoft, thinks this is more of an effort to get the low-hanging fruit than a real effort to take a chunk out of Microsoft's bread-and-butter Office business.

"Google has been competing with Microsoft at the low end of Office for some time, so this is a further expansion of Google's strategy," he told internetnews.com. He said StarOffice has some shortcomings and is not a worthy replacement for Office in a business/enterprise market, but it's perfect for users with fewer demands.

"I'd say [StarOffice] is not so much a competitor to Office today as Works, the free software a lot of people get with their PCs," said Helm. "Of course, they would love to sneak into the enterprise market, but considering the functionality StarOffice is offering, I don't think most enterprises would look at it seriously."

Mostly, he sees StarOffice as a way for Google to get into the desktop, and perhaps extend its Web-based application offerings, Docs and Spreadsheets, or perhaps create some connection between StarOffice and the online applications.

Source:www.internetnews.com

Esther Dyson: If Google Is the New Microsoft, Facebook Is the New Google

Well known Silicon Valley start-up investor Esther Dyson appeared on Charlie Rose a few days ago to give her reading of the current tech space. It turns out that Dyson is actually more interested in space and biotech these days, but she did offer an interesting comment regarding the social media business. Asked if Facebook is the new Google, Dyson said, “[It is] if you think Google is the next Microsoft.” So, is Google the new Microsoft? Dyson said, “It could well be.” I’m one of Dyson’s biggest fans from way back, so I always find her insights valuable. But in this case, I think she got part of the equation right.

There is no doubt that Google is the new Microsoft. The company's global reach, revenue and cash war chest prove that to anyone paying attention. I also agree with Dyson that what Google really wants to do is make search so highly personalized that the company will be able to “predict” what you want to: find, buy, watch, etc. But due to privacy concerns, Google is waiting for smaller companies to normalize the idea of personalized search and let others bear the initial brunt of privacy concerns highlighted by special interest groups. Where Dyson, in my view, gets it wrong is with Facebook. As one of the Wired team accurately pointed out weeks ago, unless Facebook becomes truly open, it’s really just the latest hot online club until the next one comes along.

Possibly the strangest moment during her appearance came when Rose took the opportunity to tap into Dyson’s mind as a tech consultant and asked how he could use the Web to raise money for his show. Her answer, in short: Put a PayPal donate button on your website. And—bang!—just like that, Rose saved a $50k Web consultant fee.

Source:www.wired.com

Microsoft One-Ups Google with Hotmail Makeover

Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will be pushing out its new Hotmail offering to e-mail users in waves, so anyone who hasn't yet seen the new version can rest assured it will soon be coming. One nice touch, in addition to the bump in storage capacity, is Hotmail's new dashboard, which allows more e-mails to be displayed on the page.

Microsoft Relevant Products/Services is boosting the amount of free storage space that Hotmail users receive to 5 GB. Paying Hotmail users will see their e-mail storage capacity, which costs $15 per year, grow from 4 GB to 10 GB. In contrast, Google currently provides 2.8 GB of free Gmail storage space and sells 6 GB of extra capacity for $20 per year.

When it comes to storage alone, Yahoo remains on top with its unlimited storage offering. But Microsoft is banking that its latest moves to rev-up the Windows Live Hotmail engine and give the service an edgy new dashboard will be enough to keep it ahead of the pack.

"Speed is one of the most important aspects of a Web-based e-mail service," wrote Microsoft Live Hotmail program manager Ellie Powers-Boyle in a recent blog. "We've spent more time in this release identifying what parts of the product are slowest and fixing those."

Makeover Highlights

Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will be pushing out its new Windows Live Hotmail offering to e-mail users in waves, so anyone who hasn't yet seen the new version can rest assured it will soon be coming their way.

One nice touch is Hotmail's new streamlined dashboard, which compresses the header so that more e-mails can be displayed on the page. The new format gives users the ability to automatically tell friends when they will be away on vacation, which has long been a prized feature of Outlook.

Hotmail now blocks images and links in e-mail messages from unknown senders, and provides a one-click way for users to report suspected phishing attacks. Moreover, a contacts de-duplication function is on tap to give users a one-click way to update information for anyone already listed as a contact.

Hotmail subscribers will be able to view their e-mail in either the new or classic versions of Windows Live Hotmail, with the classic version perhaps more appropriate for users with less speedy Internet connections who need a simple way to read and manage e-mail. Moreover, Hotmail users who would prefer to go straight to their e-mail inboxes upon login now have the option of turning off the MSN Today page, Powers-Boyle said.

Looking for the Best Deal

Yankee Group research fellow Laura DiDio said she thinks that Microsoft will have to ensure that Hotmail continues to evolve. "If you are Microsoft, it's not enough to just keep up with the Joneses when Mr. Jones is really Google and he's going after your businesses," DiDio said.

These days, the averagjust as likely to have a Gmail account as a Hotmail account, DiDio noted. However, many consumers no longer believe in customer brand loyalty and will go to the vendor that gives them the best deal and the best support, she said.e consumer is

So Microsoft not only has to do everything it can to keep the customers it already has, but also must continue to play one-up with Google, DiDio explained. The happy result is that consumers will continue to benefit from the contest, she concluded.


Source:www.newsfactor.com

VMware IPO to be biggest in sector since Google

US investors are preparing for what is likely to be the biggest technology listing since Google came to market, as VMware gears up to float 10pc of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company is one of the hottest software businesses in the world. It makes server virtualisation software, which lets users run a number of functions on a single server, improving its efficiency, meaning businesses require less hardware to do the same amount of work.

Data storage equipment company EMC, which bought VMware for $625m (£310m) last year, is selling 33m shares in the company. Last week, despite volatility in the global financial markets, it raised the projected price range for the IPO to $27-$29 a share, up from $23-$25.

At the mid-point, VMware would have an implied market value of around $10bn, putting it among the world's largest listed software companies.

Brent Bracelin, an analyst at technology-focused investment bank Pacific Crest Securities, said: "They will definitely achieve [the projected range]. It's a highly anticipated offering. This is one of the fastest growing companies in technology."

VMware has around an 80pc market share but the market itself is still small. Mr Bracelin estimates VMware software is installed on just 5pc of the world's 25m standardised servers, but says that could increase to 80pc.

It is thought virtualisation will become mainstream in 2009 and there are fears that its widespread adoption could hit server sales.

A number of major technology companies have already shown their interest in the company's growth prospects. Chip-maker Intel bought a 2.5pc stake in for $219m last month, and networking company Cisco Systems paid $150m for a 1.6pc stake.

Last month, VMware posted a 33pc increase in second-quarter net income to $334m on revenues up 21pc at $3bn. Its rivals include Microsoft and some smaller privately-owned companies.

The flotation comes in a period of extreme market turbulence. The Dow Jones fluctuated by almost 300 points last week. Yesterday it was up 44 points in afternoon trade at 13284.


Source:www.telegraph.co.uk

Google clicks with job-seekers

Growing firm eyes more office space

When your company's name is so well-known that it's used as a verb, it's hardly a surprise to see the payroll growing.

Google Boston -- which leases an 18,000-square-foot space on the seventh floor of One Broadway in Kendall Square in Cambridge -- is expanding.

The number of employees in Google's Cambridge office has doubled in the last four months -- and the company is still hiring, said the firm's engineering and site director, Steve Vinter. Company officials wouldn't specify the number of current employees, except to say it was more than 50.

"If you would have come in here four months ago, it would have seemed half-filled," Vinter said. "Right now it's starting to be a little tight, whereas before it wasn't."

Vinter laughed when asked if there are lines for the bathroom, but said that video conferencing rooms have become hard to book between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. He also said he noticed a line in the cafeteria for the first time this month.

It was "long enough to make good conversation," he said.

The Cambridge office of Google Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., is one of 20 in the United States and 40 in the world. This office houses an advertising department, which sells customized search services to large businesses, and an engineering department, which works with other Google offices to develop search applications for digital books and cellphones.

Despite the apparent shortage of office space, Google Boston is not slowing down on hiring.

On July 25, the company held its largest recruitment event in Boston to date, according to Google spokeswoman Sunny Gettinger. The Google Boston Open House, which was advertised on Facebook and held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, attracted approximately 100 prospective employees to an evening of appetizers, drinks, networking, and a talk by YouTube's chief marketing officer, Suzie Reider.

Eleven types of positions are listed on the jobs website for Google Boston, and Java engineering and technical writing positions were added in the last two weeks, Vinter said. Google is looking to hire a number of employees in each of the positions.

"We don't have classic hiring targets. We are expanding and we are looking for great people across the board," Gettinger said. "We're going to hire as many great people as we can find."

Google is also looking for additional office space to accommodate new employees, including both temporary space and more permanent locations, according to Vinter.

"We are definitely making arrangements all the time," he said.

Officials would not say when or where the company will lease additional space.

Google's Kendall Square office is just around the corner from an outpost of the Microsoft Corp., which signed an agreement to lease four floors at One Memorial Drive in June.

Vintner said he welcomes Microsoft to the neighborhood, noting, "It's really healthy for industry leaders in high-tech areas to be concentrated in the same area because it encourages really qualified people to stay in the area."

Even with Microsoft nearby, qualified applicants in the Boston area are not hard to find, he said, because of proximity to schools that focus on computer science and engineering.

"The biggest advantage is that there's a great pool of talented people here," he said.

Jim Klocke, executive vice president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, is happy about Google and Microsoft expanding their presence in Cambridge.

"That's the kind of job growth we like to see," Klocke said. "Because these are great jobs, they pay well, they support spinoff jobs. . . . They are the kind of jobs that help expand our reputation for innovation."

Source:www.boston.com

Future Implications: Why Microsoft will fear Google and Linux

Google and Microsoft are at it again. But this time Google is attacking Microsoft for threatening Linux users for patent violations.

In an announcement made earlier this week, Google signed on with the Open Invention Network (OIN), which is supported by Red Hat and a few other Linux heavyweights. The Open Invention Network is an organization designed by and for Linux developers, distributors, sellers, resellers, and end-users to protect them from the onslaught of costly lawsuits or other attempts made on them by bigger and better-funded enterprises. But until Google joined the fray on the side of the OIN, some people were skeptical of the ability of Linux to stand up to Microsoft.

That skepticism is over--Microsoft is in for a rude awakening.

Microsoft and Google are two of the most powerful tech companies you will ever come across. Microsoft carries no debt in its financial structure. Google carries no debt in its financial structure. Microsoft enjoys a $281.26 billion market cap while Google harbors about half that. What does all of this mean? Both companies have lots of cash with high-powered lawyers who are poised to take each other to task. And while I believe this is true and both companies will square off in a courtroom eventually, Microsoft is deathly afraid of Google. Google may not have the cash on hand that Microsoft does, but it has a more advantageous public perception as well as the same contacts and pull with Congress that Bill and his boys have.

If you take a look back at all of the lawsuits Microsoft has been a part of, I don't think you can find me one instance where the company wasn't able to get its way. The federal government tried to take Microsoft to task and even that didn't work!

But the difference between the late '90s and today is that Google wields equal, if not more, power than Microsoft. If Redmond took on the boys at Google, it would be ugly and costly for sure. But regardless of the camp you side with, Google would come out on top.

Microsoft's claim on patent violations is nothing more than glorified bullying in the hopes that the "weak" will raise the white flag. Along with threats of costly lawsuits, Microsoft has also silently hinted that it would accept a closure of the distributions in return for some financial remuneration. But finally Google has stepped in to raise the ante. Why should Microsoft be allowed to bully these Linux developers? An even better question: why does Microsoft bully these developers?

It's very simple: because they could. But with the inclusion of Google in the OIN, could has become the operative word. Microsoft doesn't want to have an all-out battle with Google--it's too costly, and if Google wins, where does Microsoft stand?

But Microsoft's fear of Google goes far beyond Linux and open source. Microsoft is deathly afraid of Google's continued dominance on the stock market, Google's significant control over Web searching and, most important, Google's dominance on Internet advertising. Google represents the future of the technology industry while Microsoft is the past. And while Microsoft knows this and is desperately trying to work its way back to prominence, it has a long way to go, and sparring with Google for a few rounds will not help matters.

Microsoft and Google will have a day to go at each other for everything--the writing is on the wall. But at this point in each company's development cycle, the time for a fight just isn't right for Microsoft, while Google would welcome a knock-down, drag-out. Simply put, a fight between Microsoft and Google would end badly for the former, while the latter would cement itself as the most prominent tech company for the next decade.

As hard to believe as it is, Microsoft is running scared. Courtesy of Google.

Source:www.cnet.com