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Google Takes on Software King Microsoft

The disturbing announcement, for Microsoft, came in the form of a blog post on Google’s website on the 7th of July, whereby a plan to launch their new operating system named Chrome OS later this year had been revealed. This could be seen as a direct attack on Microsoft, with several key factors playing a role in the reason as to why this will soon become a fierce battle between the giant corps.

Microsoft’s PC operating system has a total market share in the area of 90%, which brings in roughly half of its annual income at $ 11 billion annually. If Chrome OS is to disrupt this money flow, Microsoft will be looking to take serious action to make up the difference in other areas of the computing world, which in fact, is already the case.

Bing, a new search engine from Microsoft has been launched, which is now partnered with yahoo search in order to compete with Google.

In this particular field, Google are the current champs with 65% of US market shares, with Microsoft climbing the ranks with 8.5% added together with yahoo’s market share could take them up to a total of roughly 30%. This could majorly disrupt Google’s main money making program, with $ 10 billion yearly revenue from search advertising at stake.

The list of competing products does not end here however, with YouTube vs. Msn being another. YouTube had been bought out by Google in 2006 for a sum of £1.65 billion, which is now offering branded channels and such to turn it into a profitable business. Msn also offers advertising, whereby Microsoft is taking a keen interest in TV commercials in the form of web video, as Google have a huge edge in this field.

Next on the list, is the e-mail.

Microsoft’s Hotmail have more than 300 million monthly users according to comScore. Advertisement revenue from this kind of traffic can be substantial, and so Google have now officially launched Gmail which has roughly 150 million users monthly, according to comScore. Google’s E-mail platform will have many added features in the near future which could get the attention of many more e-mailers, particularly from the younger generation.

And still, it goes on. Facebook vs MySpace. Microsoft has purchased a small share of Facebook, with 250 million monthly active users, for a sum of $ 240 million, plus $ 150 million for advertising rights. Meanwhile, Google have made an agreement with Myspace in a search and advertising deal worth $ 900 million over a three year span. Myspace have 130 million active users on a monthly bases.

So it seems that Microsoft are still winning the fight as it stands at the moment, but Google still have some tricks. Chrome web browser, Google Docs and mobile phone operating systems. Also, Google have spent an outrageous amount of $ $ $ in acquiring a number of small companies, which will all be playing a role in the upcoming battle.


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