Let's see if we can sum up in a couple of paragraphs today's chapter in the Google Inc. vs. Microsoft Corp. vs. the world battle. This is no small feat, considering how much coverage the two behemoths have generated, but here goes: Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's new services chief, talked at the VortexSF 05 tech conference about "borrowing" a page from Apple Computer Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd.'s book on marrying hardware, software and services. In other news, the Redmond, Wash.-based giant will help fund and support Israeli startups, launch a book search, try to replace a few execs who stepped down (no word yet on how long it took for Google to call them with offers) and according to head honcho Bill Gates, welcome the challenge from Google. To add a little perspective, Google has made the news with multiple lawsuits over its own book search, Gates is stating the obvious while promising to bulk up MSN search and Google's shares are soaring.
In the meantime, Google's PR machine has churned out another heart-stopper. Now they're setting themselves up to take on eBay Inc. with "Google Base," a new service that would allow people to post and make searchable any type of content, like classified ads. So, to sum things up, Microsoft is going full-steam ahead at Google, and possibly using Apple and RIM's business models to get there, while Google is going after eBay. A shocking sidenote: Yahoo! Inc.'s CEO Terry Semel slammed Google's business plan saying, "So far they don't seem to have a plan, but maybe they do, maybe magic will happen tomorrow." — Brian Ward
Go to Ozzie story from CNET News.com
Go to Google story from CNET News.com
Go to Gates story from The Associated Press
Go to Yahoo! story from Newsfactor
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