Google-Sun Alliance: Big Bore or Big News? - And What About Microsoft?
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A Microsoft spokeswoman was reported by the L.A. Times to have reacted to the announcement with “What’s there to say? There’s not much of an impact for us.” But if they were wise in Redmond, somebody removed all of the breakables objects, and maybe even all of the chairs, from Steve Ballmer’s office. Google has this ability to take anything and make it cool, fun, and particularly easy to use. Imagine them getting their hands on Sun’s software.
In the case of OpenOffice, at least they wouldn’t have too much work to do. With the latest updates, the average user would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between it and Microsoft’s Office, especially with the word processing program. Many if not most of the features are the same, the interface is practically the same, and OpenOffice can save files in the .doc format – multiple versions of that format, in fact. OpenOffice can also save documents in open source formats, something Microsoft’s Word can’t do. Apparently, not many people realize this – but with Google’s help in promotion and distribution, that will change.
On the other hand, would the Microsoft Office suite be the direct competitor to whatever Google and Sun come up with? Mary Jay Foley of Microsoft Watch has pointed out that the logical Microsoft competitor to a lightweight, fast, cheap, web-based Office alternative is not Office – it’s MSN Services. Office, after all, was never intended to be run on the web. On the other hand, Outlook Web Access and the pending “Kahuna” (a Hotmail/Outlook Web Access successor also known as MSN Mail) were designed as web applications from the bottom up. There is no word as to when Kahuna will go live, however. But Kahuna isn’t the only bullet for Microsoft’s gun; the company is also working on a hosted collaboration suite that will include email, unified messaging, instant messaging, VoIP and data conferencing abilities. It is aimed right at the small- to mid-sized business market – or in other words, the same folks who would be interested in a potential Sun-Google offering.
Some of you may be wondering that Microsoft doesn’t feel betrayed on some level. Didn’t the software giant just bury the hatchet with Sun back in April 2004 in a $1.95 billion, 10-year agreement? Yes, the two firms did indeed settle Sun’s Java-related antitrust lawsuit, agree to share patents, and make some promises about software interoperability. However, if it looked as if both parties were pushed into it, in a sense they were. Their customers wanted the deal, because they weren’t happy about the fact that technology from the two firms didn’t work and play well together. Scott McNealy says of the Microsoft deal: “I think it was a required partnership, and the customers wanted it. I got hammered until we announced that.”
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