Comments on: Platform.new() http://prasenjeet.com/blog/2009/11/platform-new Prasenjeet Dutta's blog on Technology, Software and Innovation Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:42:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: prem http://prasenjeet.com/blog/2009/11/platform-new#comment-186 prem Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:01:13 +0000 http://www.chaoszone.org/?p=875#comment-186 The kind of market share that Microsoft has which characterizes it as a monopoly makes competing against it more difficult than what it seems to be. For companies that have to compete in monopoly markets it is not enough that they do everything right, for them to have any chance of grabbing any significant market share from the monopoly they need outside help. It could be in the form of government regulation, fundamental/disruptive shift in the marketplace or mistakes made by the monopoly. Google is good at building technology, but they haven't been very successful at productising much of it. Their DNA is delivering services online. Going from that to delivering shrink-wrapped software is a long way and will require "making the elephant dance". They don't have much experience in "high touch" businesses. For all their public posturing about openness the level secrecy they maintain when you try to do business with them is mind boggling. Google as a company has a serious fear of commitment, which is why they slap the beta tag on products that are very mature so that they can hide behind it if something were to go wrong. So, I don't think anyone should keep their eyes peeled for a credible alternative to come from the Google stable. Now, having said that it does make sense for Google to do an OS even if it does not have any decent chance of competing with Windows. This is kind of a dance that Microsoft and Google are doing that eventually becomes advantageous for the consumer. Every dollar that Google throws at Chrome will force Microsoft to stay on its toes about Windows, which prevents it from pouring attention on Bing. Microsoft in a way does the same with Bing. It is a win win for everybody involved. Kind of like a nuclear deterrent that keeps peace. Ultimately, both these companies are pioneers who invented entire industries single-handedly. They should be smart enough to know that they can learn a lot from each other and both of them can learn from Apple. Whoever drops their ego first and decides that they need to hire a top honcho from the other side and give them a mandate to create what they done for their rival will emerge a winner. The kind of market share that Microsoft has which characterizes it as a monopoly makes competing against it more difficult than what it seems to be. For companies that have to compete in monopoly markets it is not enough that they do everything right, for them to have any chance of grabbing any significant market share from the monopoly they need outside help. It could be in the form of government regulation, fundamental/disruptive shift in the marketplace or mistakes made by the monopoly.

Google is good at building technology, but they haven’t been very successful at productising much of it. Their DNA is delivering services online. Going from that to delivering shrink-wrapped software is a long way and will require “making the elephant dance”. They don’t have much experience in “high touch” businesses. For all their public posturing about openness the level secrecy they maintain when you try to do business with them is mind boggling. Google as a company has a serious fear of commitment, which is why they slap the beta tag on products that are very mature so that they can hide behind it if something were to go wrong. So, I don’t think anyone should keep their eyes peeled for a credible alternative to come from the Google stable.

Now, having said that it does make sense for Google to do an OS even if it does not have any decent chance of competing with Windows.

This is kind of a dance that Microsoft and Google are doing that eventually becomes advantageous for the consumer. Every dollar that Google throws at Chrome will force Microsoft to stay on its toes about Windows, which prevents it from pouring attention on Bing. Microsoft in a way does the same with Bing. It is a win win for everybody involved. Kind of like a nuclear deterrent that keeps peace.

Ultimately, both these companies are pioneers who invented entire industries single-handedly. They should be smart enough to know that they can learn a lot from each other and both of them can learn from Apple. Whoever drops their ego first and decides that they need to hire a top honcho from the other side and give them a mandate to create what they done for their rival will emerge a winner.

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