Summary: Advertisements land right inside people's Windows desktops as Google challenges Microsoft with free-of-charge competition

ONE of the drawbacks of using Google services is said to be the advertisements, which are Google's main source of revenue. According to some news reports, Google plans to starve Microsoft's #1 cash cow within a few years, forcing Microsoft to imitate Google Docs. As one source put it:

...Girouard also made an interesting prediction, putting Google Docs about a year away from seriously challenging Microsoft Office.

To say more:

By next year, Google says, its web-happy word processor will be so effective, most enterprises will be able to "get rid of [Microsoft] Office."

Chrome OS is said to be just days away, so these toll-free items of software, which include Android, are truly challenging Microsoft's cash cows. Microsoft will need to justify paying extra for Windows Mobile, Vista 7, and Office. Margins are already affected.

“Chrome OS is said to be just days away, so these toll-free items of software, which include Android, are truly challenging Microsoft's cash cows.”It turns out that Microsoft is now trying to extract profit using advertisements in people's Windows desktop, just as patent applications suggested.

Microsoft boosters Gavin Clarke and Mary Jo Foley actually put a positive spin on it, but Microsoft is renting space for companies to sit on one's own desktop. As noted yesterday in IRC, the new advocacy message might be, "switch to GNU/Linux to get rid of adverts."

Is Microsoft's new strategy worthwhile? As Oiaohm puts it, Microsoft is "selling ad space on Windows 7... Now this is seeming desperate."

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