Poison pills on the road to domination

Summary: Google is shaping up to become Microsoft's worst nightmare, but it is also making the mistake of hiring people currently/formerly associated with Microsoft

LAST MONTH we argued that Google is valuable when it comes to eliminating (or removing the teeth of) a company which is attacking GNU/Linux from many directions. Since then, the main development that took place is Google's public demonstration of a GNU/Linux product with which it enters the desktop arena, Microsoft's bread and butter. Microsoft is by all means worried about this (many supportive links were posted daily over the past week), even if it pretends that it's not. Microsoft played a similar game of nonchalance against NC.

A few hours ago we linked to an article which explains that Mozilla and Microsoft could be falling behind because of Chrome OS. The operating system boots very fast and performs basic tasks that may not appeal to technology professionals although they fulfill all the needs of the large majority of computer users (Google conducted use case studies). Gigaom has this new article about dual-booting as standard, being quite a disruptive possibility which already materialises even without Google. People may no longer think of Windows as something which is 'bolted onto' computers.

The idea that you don’t have to use just one operating system on a single computer is, of course, hardly new. Many people use virtualization software to run multiple OSes concurrently. Manufacturers such as Dell have long offered pre-configured dual-boot systems, and specialize in virtualized systems for data centers. Many people also use lightweight Linux-based instant-on environments such as Splashtop as secondary platforms. For that matter, 20 years ago people ran DOS and Windows on single systems — working in both.

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Hardware makers, as well, are thinking of strategic opportunities involving multiple mobile operating systems, and a notable trend is taking shape as PC makers rapidly warm up to Android. While PC makers such as Dell and Acer favor Android for their smartphones, Acer also sells an Aspire One netbook that runs both Android and Microsoft Windows. The company is pursuing that idea in spite of the fact that Google is positioning its upcoming Chrome OS as a platform for netbooks, while maintaining that Android is targeted at mobile phones.

Speaking of sub-notebooks, earlier today we wrote about what Microsoft had done to limit their appeal. The following new article states that “Netbooks [are] a necessary evil” for Microsoft and Intel. It's a quote from the following man:

Canalys CEO Steve Brazier went a step further, saying “Netbooks have been a necessary evil for Wintel. They have kept the industry going this year, but have been detrimental to (Microsoft) and Intel.”

There is nothing evil about supplying what customers want. What is evil is a leverage big enough (Microsoft and Intel are both committing crimes for market share and consequently found guilty) to enable manufacturers to tell customer what they want. If that was to occur, it would be indicative of failure when it comes to market forces theory.

Regarding Google and GNU/Linux again, one reader of ours senses what he calls "funky smell", arguing that "Google bought Maratech, which poses as a distance collaboration company."

“It can't be good for Google to have people working against them inside their own company.”
      --AnonymousOur reader insists that "LuleÃ¥ is infamous for having Microsoft folks and Microsoft apologists posing as technologists or software developers. Some will even go so far as to us an office at other institutions to pretend that that the remote institution is into Microsoft."

"It can't be good for Google," he argues, "to have people working against them inside their own company. That would lead to weird actions like the strange decision to marginialize Linux by eliminating Gimzmo5 clients from Linux." How about the recent hiring of Don Dodge? Dodgy decision from Google.

"At a time when Google is adding two more Linux operating systems, Android and ChromeOS, to their offerings, both acquiring Marratech and intentional trouble for Gizmo5 are at odds with Google's history," concludes our reader.

Our reader suspects that Marratech might be to blame, but he phrases it more rudely: "Maybe that funky smell is Marratech?" ⬆