Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is Losing to Google in Search and in Mobile (Linux)

"Every time you use Google, you're using a machine running the Linux kernel."

--Chris DiBona, Google



Googleplex Welcome Sign



Summary: Turf wars involving some of the most disruptive trends in technology (beyond the desktop) indicate that Microsoft will continue to lose billions while GNU/Linux increases in relevance

MICROSOFT continues to struggle against Linux, especially in areas such as mobile. Microsoft boosters like Paul Thurrott are spinning data from a Microsoft partner [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] which also says that Google loses market share* despite the fact that data from companies that are not Microsoft partners may suggest otherwise. "Microsoft Name No Match For Google Name in Search War," says this one news report.



A Microsoft proponent, Todd Bishop, has asked: "Is Microsoft Bing losing steam?" He links to a survey from a firm which is not a Microsoft partner (these companies are sometimes offering/selling bias as it is their business model).

That said it's worth noting that Microsoft's Bing search engine experienced a decrease in market share in the U.S. for the first time in four months in March, according to new data from Experian Hitwise.


As an important reminder, Microsoft is losing over $2 billion per year in this area, where it is almost literally buying market share rather than genuinely gaining any (Verizon for example [1, 2]). According to this report, Microsoft is still paying people to use its search, which is not a sustainable strategy.

I can understand the excitement when you look at how major retailers and brands are collectively spending billions on their Facebook and Twitter sites. Recently the granddaddy of them all, Microsoft, created 425,000 fans to its Bing page – wait for it – in one day. How did they do it? Easy, they paid for it.

They offered “virtual” currency for the wildly popular FarmVille website. I know, Farmville? Turns out there are 82 million (really) players to tend crops and raise livestock on a virtual farm.


According to this, Apple excludes Microsoft as a search option, but it does include Yahoo! (Yahoo! leads to Microsoft after radical intervention).

Bing is still nowhere to be seen in the iPhone's Safari app, or anywhere else in the preview version of the OS. Besides Google, which remains the default search engine, the only other option remains Yahoo.


The integration between search and mobile phones has become increasingly important as iPhone OS and Android both move upwards to tablets and sub-notebooks. Since Microsoft is hardly relevant in mobile phones and its renaming attempts are pointless, this will be a serious problem in months/years to come. Microsoft loses a lot of money in this area and its investment in new phones seems to be in vain. As the New York Times points out, Microsoft is betraying its own mobile partners, perhaps out of despair (act of desperation).

Come Monday, Microsoft will need to apply some of its most sophisticated public relations and marketing maneuvers.

[...]

So, is Microsoft still the neutral software maker just helping phone companies make their products or a direct rival in the phone business? I’ll be curious to see how the company spins its answer to that question on Monday.


Microsoft is indeed planning a blitz for later today, just days after messing up quite badly with Windows Mobile. This serious failure is also explained here:

Microsoft has apologised to Windows Mobile 6.5 users this week after it killed a beta of Office Mobile 2010 some had been running on their devices.


Investors.com has published the article "Losing Ground In Mobile Market, Microsoft Aims Both High And Low"

Joe Wilcox from Microsoft Watch (when the site was alive) responds to Michael Gartenberg, who is spinning for Microsoft and pretending that Windows Mobile still has a chance. Windows Mobile is being abandoned by developers [1, 2], so it takes great courage (or ignorance or a paycheck) to suggest an imminent reversal. For those who do not know, Gartenberg is a Microsoft AstroTurfer. We wrote about him in posts such as:



In short, Wilcox tells Gartenberg that "mobile multitasking is a necessity" (Apple and Microsoft don't have that and the same goes for cut and paste in Windows).

Context is key, particularly for Millennials accustomed to doing many things -- blogging, gaming, homework, listening to music, social networking and watching videos -- at once on PCs. Even more than the PC, the smartphone is highly contextual, with usage changing depending on circumstance and often demanding multiple functions or applications to be available nearly simultaneously. Gartenberg's turn-by-turn example is a good one, if, say, the user is walking to a destination, streaming from Pandora, searching Google for the nearest coffee shop, using location services to see if any friends are nearby, but suddenly stopping to snap a photo of a llama in the street and then uploading it to Facebook and Twitter. Multitasking mobile operating systems make easier these kinds of rapidly changing contextual scenarios.


Apple and Microsoft might insist that multitasking would "confuse" users, but it's a lot more likely that since Linux phones already enjoy reuse of a kernel, multitasking is a trivial feature to incorporate 'out of the box'. ___ * It also happens to show that the biggest winner is Linux [1, 2, 3, 4].

Recent Techrights' Posts

Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
 
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: Games and More
Links for the day
Links 01/04/2025: Apple Fined $162M for Privacy Abuses, Disinformation Online a Growing Concern
Links for the day
Why We're Reporting Brett Wilson LLP for Apparently Misusing Their Licence to Protect American Microsofters Who Attack Women
For those who have not been keeping abreast
Newer Press Reports Confirm That Microsoft Shuts Down 'Hey Hi' (AI) Labs Despite All the Hype
The "hey hi" (AI) bubble is not sustainable
Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
Links for the day
Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
This is far from over
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: XKCDpunk and worldclock.py
Links for the day
50 Years of Sabotage and a Gut Punch to Computer Science (and Science in General)
Will we get back to science-based computing rather than cult-like following?
Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
"If you are hearing this, thank you"
3 Months in 2025, 4 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Now Offices Shut Down Permanently
"A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 31, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025