Internet Explorer: A Sneak Attack on Google
August 28, 2008
I admire the wordsmithing at Forbes Magazine. The story “Microsoft’s Sneak Attack on Google” by Victoria Barrett takes a swing at Microsoft and misses, then throws a punch at Google and doesn’t come close. The core of this story is the addition of a search box to Internet Explorer 8 and icons that send the query to one of Microsoft’s best friends; for example, Amazon. Ms. Barrett points out that the crafty Microsofties display a Microsoft map with an IE 8 user highlights an address. Google, I learn, doesn’t have a good answer for Microsoft’s dominance of the browser market. To keep the interesting writing exercise balanced, Ms. Barrett reminds me that Microsoft’s buying traffic does not work too well and that the gap between Google and Microsoft remains wide.
What caught my attention is the characterization of Google as a foe which can be challenged only by a sneak attack. Furthermore, Microsoft comes across looking a bit like a mugger waiting to catch a victim unawares. Google doesn’t fare much better because the company, as I read the story, is indifferent to small ad markets presumably too preoccupied with loftier sales ambitions.
I find this an outstanding example of technical analysis. Just what the doctor ordered for managers who need a search box in a browser explained as the equivalent of a digital ninja stalking an indifferent Googzilla.
Stephen Arnold, August 28, 2008
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