Microsoft vs. Google: A 2,400-Year-Old Move
This week several seemingly unrelated news articles are actually talking about the same thing: a fundamental pattern of competition that reveals the underpinnings between Google’s and Microsoft’s emerging battle in online software. The November 2008 edition of FastCompany quotes Sridhar Vembu, CEO of AdventNet, explaining his analysis of an emerging battle between Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) in one business software business (i.e., Google Docs vs. Microsoft Live’s Web-based office programs). Vembu says, “We simply don’t believe Google has the rational business incentive to go deep into the business/IT software category.” His analysis shows that Google makes more profit per employee from its current services than it would likely make revenue per employee in business software.



