Microsoft vs Google

Microsoft is the ten ton gorilla of the technology world.

With its Windows operating system and Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access) holding a virtual monopoly in the world of personal computers, cash flows in at a stupendous rate.

These two programs alone account for a huge percentage of Microsoft’s unbelievable profits.

What does Microsoft do with all its cash.

Recently, it reluctantly declared a dividend giving some of its profits back to shareholders.

It buys other companies that may become competitors or that offer new approaches to technology.

And it tries to figure out how to dominate the new battlefield, the Internet.

Its Windows operating system is full of bugs and security holes and under constant attack from hackers.

The newest Windows, currently under development, was bloated with code due to the way Microsoft developed software.

Programmers worked on different areas of Windows and then the results were more or less patched together into a whole.

This approach gave programmers more leeway and allowed for a certain amount of creativity but often resulted in swollen code which required ever more powerful computers to run.

And often left security breaches.

It apparently reached the point that the upcoming Windows, which will replace XP, became unworkable.

Bill Gates finally admitted it and the software was revamped with an overall supervisor who forced programmers to coordinate with each other and rigorously test for bugs.

As a result, rumors have it that the new Windows will be leaner, meaner, and cleaner.

However, though Microsoft dominates the PC world, it has never quite figured out how to dominate the Internet.

And the Internet is where is world is headed. PC’s are commodities, sold at Wal-Mart. And how many more features can Microsoft cram into a word processor so that you will buy the upgrade?

Enter Google, the ultimate Internet company. It started out allowing us to search the billions of websites out there.

Now it wants us to allow us to search all the books ever written. A world library at our fingertips.

It makes money through advertising. Its stock continues to rise.

Google has the energy and audacity of the early Microsoft.

Its corporate structure is very level, which means it has very few managers and managers of managers.

Google is on a hiring binge and it is looking for the most brilliant and creative people on the planet. And they must fit into the Google culture, which is self motivated, aggressively imaginative and off the wall.

Employees are encouraged to come up with new ideas, pitch them to the founding fathers and if accepted can form a group to implement them. When the project is done the group breaks up.

This reminds me of the way the Comanche Indians worked. If a warrior had a vision that instructed him to go on a raid, he informed his tribe members. Those who wished, followed him to war and glory. Those who didn’t trust his medicine stayed home. If successful, his next raid gained even more followers. If not, his followers dwindled.

Status was based on success.

Google employees are encouraged to devote a certain percentage of their time to dreaming, to thinking out of the box, to coming up with outrageous ideas.

Most of these visions, of course, will never become economically viable, but it just takes one inspired moment to change the world.

Keep an eye on Google. They are becoming the next Microsoft.