Thursday’s Money for Breakfast on Fox Business Network gives viewers insights into what stories are going to dominate the headlines. One of the biggest stories this morning is the dispute going on right now between Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) who seem to be increasingly in competition for so many products including search, browsers, net apps, and more. In this latest clash, Microsoft is upset that using Google’s App Sync (which lets users sync contacts and calendars between Gmail and Outlook) disables the search feature on Microsoft’s Outlook.
“Microsoft accused Google of disabling the search capabilities of the mail programs outlook. Google acknowledged an issue with the new software but disputed the severity of the problem…Google has Microsoft on the run otherwise you would not hear from on this issue but essentially it is doing well Microsoft did to the web surfing business 10 years ago when they knocked Netscape out of the game. Google, those they control the eyeballs they can move them toward a Google applications bit by bit. It is about putting things on to the web and off of the desktop Microsoft is about being on the desktop and Google is trying to squeeze them out of it.” Fox Business Network Money for Breakfast 6/18/2009
Of course, it does not matter whether this is an oversight or intentional on Google’s part, the fact is that Microsoft’s dominance in enterprise email is being threatened. Google is still the upstart in the applications business compared to Microsoft, and the vast majority of business still use the Microsoft Office suite. However, these two giants continue to invade the other’s territory, as we have seen with Microsoft’s reemergence into relevance with its new Bing search engine. We expect that this is not the last time these two will tussle over competitive and compatibility issues.
Money for Breakfast Recap: Microsoft and Google At Each Other’s Throats
