Will Google and its allies replace Microsoft as the primary computing platform — swapping the Internet for client-side applications?
$100 Laptop + Writely + GDrive = Google’s Future?
1. Low cost computers that don’t have big hard drives (say the $100 laptop or similar device)
2. Ubiquitous high-speed access (see GoogleNet or FON)
3. Web-based consumer software apps (e.g., GMail or Writely)
4. Virtually unlimited personal online storage (GDrive)
$100 Laptop
Wyse says in talks with Google and Yahoo on thin computing
Wyse Technology, the leading thin-client manufacturer, told SVW that it is in talks with both Google and Yahoo, for the design and production of powerful low-priced computers integrating data, voice, and broadband connectivity.
The internet giants are interested in using low-priced PC-compatible computers to capture millions of users in developing countries. Those millions of users will be needed to fuel their future growth as Western markets begin to slow and mature.
By making their online services easier to access on developing world PCs, Google and Yahoo would also be able to make sure that their search box and services are foremost. Google recently reached a deal with Dell to distribute new PCs with Google’s Toolbar and search prominently displayed on the start page. Scoop: Wyse says in talks with Google and Yahoo on thin computing
Microsofts Mistakes Proving Costly
Pulling on its core historic strategy, the plan to deal with Google and Yahoo has been tied up in the OS. Microsoft wants to make the experience of working on one’s desktop computer and across the greater Internet, or an internal Intranet, virtually seamless. Since late 2004, the plan was to bundle a number of web services into something they could control, the OS.
That is why Vista is such an important milestone for Microsoft and for the various industries that work around Microsoft’s massive sphere of influence. Vista has been pushed back year after year and actually placed on Wired Magazine’s list of vaporware products for 2004 and 2005. Computer makers and retailers most recently expected the product in November 2006.
The problem Microsoft faces moving towards that future, and the reason the Longhorn/Vista initiative has been so difficult is they have fallen behind the curve when it comes to servicing consumer expectations over the web. They have been a constant third in the race for search supremacy and frequently trail behind their rivals when it comes to introducing branded products typical consumers use over the web. That, in part, is because consumers are using the web differently than they use the XP driven computer they access the web on. Microsofts Mistakes Proving Costly
