Google fans (including me), are excited to try to find out what Google is doing. In that spirit, I shared some stories.
Google has acquired a company called up startle, which develops web-based word processing software called Writly. Both Google and Writingly had little to say on their blogs, unless the agreement was made and Google was happy to have the team. I went to check out both blogs this morning, and they are completely crowded, so I can't see the writing. I have connected it for you so you can check when the heat is off.
When I read Google News I often smile, laugh or laugh a lot. This one deserves to be heard loudly.
Google bought up startle because it wants to empower people to do office work online. That's a good way to say that he wants to kick Microsoft's ass, which makes me happy. I think kicking Microsoft's buttocks is a good part of their strategy.
Money Magazine agrees with me, but thinks it has a lot in it. Google has always expressed a desire to move from client (PC) based computing to Network (Internet) based computing. This means that only a small portion of the program you are using resides on your computer (called a small client), and the rest remains on the server.
I have always heard that a small client computer will go off like a rocket for twenty years now. Sixteen years ago, when Larry Ellison of Oracle pushed stripped computers that used the network to work, I thought it was a dumb idea, and I still do. At that time, a powerful computer was charging a few USB dongles for grabbing gigabyte data that had not yet been invented (I don't even think USB was invented).
The reason then was that a cheap network computer costing a few hundred dollars could simply connect to the network and use its processing and storage capacity. Now a powerful computer is a few hundred dollars, so who needs a released version?
Besides, I want to manage my resources and files and software. I don't want them to sit on Google's big drive to use them to decide what kind of advertising they will give me.
And that's what money thinks is the last game.
But competing with Microsoft is Google's latest idea, which contradicts Wall Street's high expectations for continued growth. Browser-based apps like Writly could include Google Ads, a business that is expected to grow to $9.5 billion this year.
Listen to this:
At Google, which rewards Ph.D. they have for employees, the calculation is surprisingly easy. Google makes about $16 per user per year in advertising. There are over 300 million Microsoft Word users today. If Google encourages some of those users to use web-based software instead of Word, and spends a lot of time using other Google tools as a result, Google may increase its individual advertising sales. Even a $1 increase per user translates to $400 million in additional revenue.
I’m not sure I want to use a web-based word processor that sticks to ads based on what I write. Wait ... I'm sure. I do not want to.
Jeez ... with all those eggs gathered in one place on Google, are the contextual ads for the whole web-based word processing program the best they can come up with? I'm starting to smell one pony trick.
I hope I'm missing something, as I'm still not sure if I understand what Google is trying to do, but it's fun to watch. For more laughs, I'd love to visit the Google Rumors website. You have to look.
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