Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Google Chase Gets Harder

Rugby action



Summary: Microsoft's inability to stop Google, as demonstrated by the latest news

Microsoft's latest (and still failing) attempt to dethrone Google search is now seeing the expensive creation of an Irish datacentre. Microsoft probably chose Dublin to reward for tax breaks (or get some more) [1, 2]. The cost is €341 million, which roughly equates to how much money Microsoft is losing on its Web business, based on just about every report. What does not kill Microsoft makes it weaker (Microsoft already borrows money).

MICROSOFT formally opened its $500 million (€341 million) Dublin “mega-data centre” yesterday, the first such facility outside the US, as the world’s largest software maker fights for a bigger slice of the online market.


As we showed a few weeks ago, Microsoft is better at lying about its market share in search than it is at actual search. After destroying Yahoo! only to find antitrust barriers [1, 2, 3, 4], Microsoft relies on former partner Carol Bartz to market the deal while yet another Yahoo! director jumps ship.

Bartz has been a disaster for Yahoo! and Michael Arrington begs to have Yang back

So in came Bartz, and the deals started happening. We've mostly kept quiet. Any new CEO deserves a honeymoon phase, and Bartz barked at journalists to keep their opinions to themselves on her first day at Yahoo: "It's been too crazy. People outside Yahoo deciding what Yahoo should do, shouldn't do. That's got to stop."

But the honeymoon ended when Yahoo signed away its most important asset for next to nothing. Yahoo went from being in the enviable position of no. 2 in search to just another portal, albeit a big one. And despite what Bartz said, she held out hard for a big up front cash payment. Microsoft never gave in, and Yahoo caved.


In the mean time, amid constant disturbance, Microsoft also poached Yahoo! staff, just as it is currently poaching Apple staff. There is a new satire from BBSpot about what Microsoft is doing.

Microsoft announced yesterday that Apple CEO and Chairman Steve Jobs would be joining Microsoft as its CEO replacing Steve Ballmer, whose performance in that position has been disappointing to investors. This broadens Microsoft's raid on Apple employees, which had only been focused on Apple Store managers.


In other more authentic news, Google has expanded past search and it is gaining at Microsoft's expense. Articles from the past week include:

Fed plan helps Google in cloud race with Microsoft

Google Inc.'s plan to design a set of cloud services for federal government agencies could give the company a boost in its effort to take on Microsoft Corp. on the desktop.


Google Chrome Is a Lock for 10% Share, but How Much More?

Google Chrome could easily reach 10 percent market share by 2011, but it could do more than that by being bundled with PCs by Sony, HP, Dell and Lenovo. Every analyst eWEEK polled said that while the Sony deal gives Google a toehold in PC bundling, it isn't enough for Google and high-tech watchers to get excited over. PC manufacturers, which have nothing but dumb boxes of metal, plastic and silicon without an OS to support them, could fear spurning Microsoft by going with Chrome.


Microsoft takes notice as more people use free Google Docs

No one knows how fast the market for online productivity programs will grow. IBM sells Lotus Symphony and Lotus Live as an online suite; Zoho offers free Office-like tools popular with students.


No Signal Despite Claims ; Tech Heads

If Microsoft Office is too expensive, and OpenOffice.org is too hefty, try Lotus Symphony.

Symphony is a free office suite featuring a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software. It uses the Open Document Format but is also compatible with most a Microsoft formats like .doc and .xls and, even better, it's multi-platform - there areversions for Windows, Mac and Linux.


Elizabeth Montalbano, a Microsoft-oriented reporter from IDG, has served some Microsoft "damage control" while her colleague covered Google's response to Microsoft's latest FUD:

Google hit back at Microsoft today, defending the security of its new Chrome Frame plug-in and claiming that the software actually makes Internet Explorer (IE) safer and more secure.


For context, here is another report from IDG, claiming that "IE 8 runs ten times faster with Google Chrome plug-in."

According to tests run by Computerworld , Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) was 9.6 times faster than IE8 on its own. Computerworld ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite three times each for IE8 with Chrome Frame, and IE8 without the plug-in, then averaged the scores.


No wonder Microsoft is so worried.

"I'm going to f---ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f---ing kill Google."

--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
 
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025