What will the Internet look like 10 years from now? Will it look more like one big pay-per-view channel, or more like an open street fair, or will it be somewhere in between? The answer will be heavily influenced, of course, by the competition between the King of Search and the current desktop market leader.
On November 2, 2005, Microsoft announced its most major new initiative in 10 years, and although the announcement was vague, it is clear that Microsoft intends to directly take on Google on Google"s on terms: search, services and advertising.
Proclaiming that we are living in an era of live software, Gates said in his November 2 announcement that the first initiatives in the assault on Google will be launched from Microsoft"s core products, Windows and Office, by way of Internet services called "Windows Live" and "Office Live." Those initiatives will basically amount to a way to store information in the cloud, as many people now do with Google"s many services.
But will it commit Microsoft to a path that seems unlikely to succeed? Gartner research fellow Tim Bittman told ZDNet reporter Mike Ricciuti that he thinks that Microsoft will end up cannibalizing Windows and Office in the process of attacking Google on its own turf, the open Internet.