Redmond | Feature Article: Google's Secret Weapon - The Diigo Meta page

• 31 Jul 08
  

  Cindy Schultz

  • History shows that Microsoft doesn't rest until it owns any sector it enters,
    so peaceful cohabitation is hardly an option.

    
    

    Against this complex background, Google's bevy of Ph.D.s came up with the perfect
    solution: a way to fight Microsoft without appearing to do so. Open source lies
    at the heart of that strategy.

  • Another senior open source hacker who has joined the Google fold is Ben Goodger,
    lead engineer on Firefox. Google's links with this increasingly serious rival
    to Internet Explorer go much deeper, however. Google is the main search engine
    for Firefox, both in the dedicated search box and on the default homepage when
    Firefox is first installed.
  • 2 more annotations...
  • • That's up from about $50 million the previous
      year. That means that Google, by far the most important of those paying for
      search queries, is effectively underwriting the development of Firefox and Thunderbird,
      Mozilla's rival to Microsoft Outlook, and hence quietly chipping away at Microsoft's
      position in the browser and e-mail markets.
    • Releasing Gears as open source encourages a wider adoption in the free software
      community and beyond. If Gears takes off, and people are able to use Web-based
      apps offline through their browser, then the underlying OS becomes less important
      -- and Microsoft's hold on the desktop weakens.
• 05 Jan 08
  

  Dennis Howlett

  Holy crap - you gotta read this!

  google open-source strategy microsoft

• 04 Jan 08
  

  brian rodney

  Moreover, things are likely to get worse as other companies realize that one way of weakening Microsoft is to strengthen open source.

  firefox google ibm microsoft opensource business software computer technology

• 03 Jan 08
  

  Gordon Haff

  As Simon Phipps notes: "Glyn does a good job documenting how Google tactically supports open source to damage Microsoft without actually letting openness spread into the company."

  google opensource

• 

  Adriana Lukas

  not sure that is how open source is actually playing out. the article says more about business people and their understanding of open source rather than open source itself.

  opensource google microsoft software web delicious

• 02 Jan 08
  

  Robin M. Ashford

  Google opensource

• 

  A. Fernandez

  Google strategy against Microsoft

  Google opensource Microsoft business article

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