December 20, 2007
Head in the Clouds?: Google vs. Microsoft and the Rise of Webtop
What’s the future of cloud computing? It depends on whom you ask - namely, Google or Microsoft. A recent article in the NY Times relates the growing “rumble” between the two tech giants over their differing views on the trajectory of computing. While Google’s looking up to the sky, envisioning (and banking on) cloud computing as the future of almost all business and personal computing, Microsoft is much less optimistic about the functionality and appeal of web-based software, their business almost entirely built upon desktop applications.
One bit that jumped out at us was Google’s fearless optimism about the idea of computing almost entirely “in the cloud.” The rise of Google Apps, now used by over 1.6 million users, with 2000 new companies signing up daily, reflects (at the very least) a considerable warming up to the idea. But how much will the cloud cover? According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, nearly everything:
Mr. Schmidt steps up to a white board. He draws a rectangle and rattles off a list of things that can be done in the Web-based cloud, and he notes that this list is expanding as Internet connection speeds become faster and Internet software improves. In a sliver of the rectangle, about 10 percent, he marks off what can’t be done in the cloud, like high-end graphics processing. So, in Google’s thinking, will 90 percent of computing eventualy reside in the cloud?
“In our view, yes,” Mr. Schmidt says. “It’s a 90-1o thing.” Inside the cloud resides “almost everything you do in a company, almost everything a knowledge worker does.”
Article Link | 
| Email This | Print This Post |
4 Responses to “Head in the Clouds?: Google vs. Microsoft and the Rise of Webtop”
Posted from: 198.45.18.38
December 20th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Posted from: 24.161.125.194
December 20th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Posted from: 75.167.174.99
December 21st, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Posted from: 194.79.16.69
December 28th, 2007 at 6:20 am
Leave a Comment