A recent article here on MarketingPilgrim, which referred to an interview with Eric Schmidt, where he basically saw Microsoft as the “evil” company the knight in shining armor (since Google’s CEO was being interviewed, I’m sure it’s clear who he sees as the “knight in shining armor”) needs to protect us from gave me the idea for today’s post
Obviously, the opinion in question is anything but objective, but it does make us wonder: who exactly is the bad guy? Given the fact that Google and Microsoft don’t exactly have a stainless track record, it’s definitely hard to tell.
On the one hand, we have Google as the biggest player in search, a company which is basically dominating the Web and, as a result, it should come as no surprise that most folks see this as something extremely dangerous. The fact that they are also in quite a shopping spree also contributes to the “bad guy” image Google has.
On the other hand, there’s Microsoft and I believe the name says it all. It’s definitely safe to assume that Microsoft is not exactly the most popular company and, naturally, their previous interest in Yahoo! is seen by many as an attempt to try and dominate the Web as well, as an attempt to crush a company which, as far as search is concerned, seems to be following in their footsteps when it comes to “domination” (once again, the word “Windows” says it all).
All in all, two big players are competing for an extremely important piece of the Internet pie: Yahoo! (note: MSFT has now withdrawn its bid) . Even more so, it seems that both of them are as hungry as it gets and, as funny as it may sound, both of them are actually trying to convince us that they are here to “save us”.
Will Google save us from Microsoft? Will Microsoft save us from Google? You can’t be serious! The image of an Internet user who believes that one of these two companies is here to save him or her is similar to that of a fish who expects to be saved by one of the two fishermen who have just arrived at the lake.
Let’s keep our feet on the ground, shall we? Google or Microsoft, who is the bad guy? It would be harsh to label any of the two companies as “bad guys”, but one thing is clear: none of them are knights in shining armor.
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
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