Microsoft's Sneak Attack On GoogleForget about that $44 billion takeover bid for Yahoo. Microsoft's latest assault on Google is slier.
Since May Microsoft has been reimbursing people up to half of the value of items they buy using its search technology. The gimmick isn't working. In July Google's share of all searches jumped to 60% from 53% a year ago, while Microsoft's share slumped to 12% from 13.6%, according to Nielsen Online.
Now comes Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's latest would-be Google-toppling tactic (after his failed bid to take over Yahoo: a sneak attack using the newly launched version of Microsoft's dominant Web browser, Internet Explorer. Ballmer isn't portraying the updated browser as a Google destroyer, but many of its features turn out to be a crafty way for people to get around using the most popular search service.
"We didn't design this with Google in mind," insists Internet Explorer head Dean Hachamovitch. He adds: "It's not clear what the consequences might be."
The engineers in Redmond deserve a little more credit than Hachamovitch wants to give. The new browser comes with a search box in the upper right-hand corner and, just below that, a row of tiny logos for various search destinations, such as Yahoo, Ebay and MySpace. You can select which destinations you want to include here.
If your search will likely end up in Wikipedia, for instance, with a single click over a little "W" you can search only that encyclopedia. Amazon.com displays items for sale. The New York Times shows snippets of stories. So far 27 Web sites have joined the drop-down column, including Facebook and Digg.
Microsoft is, uncharacteristically, keeping its hands off, giving Web sites the option to serve up results and customize how they appear. It also magnanimously lets those sites take all the revenue from ads alongside the results. That's a sly stab at Google's business, though this kind of searching--where users already know where they want to go--doesn't yield especially lucrative ads for Google.
Another Google-dodging feature in the new browser: Highlighting a street address on a Web page launches a map, with the default set to Microsoft's Live Maps (though you can change this default to Google Maps).
Internet Explorer is the most widely used browser. This gives Microsoft a nice advantage over Google. Just as Microsoft used its dominance in operating systems to get its browser onto millions of computers, it now can rely on that browser to offer Web software. Microsoft needs that weapon as Google encroaches on its turf with freebie Web versions of word processors and spreadsheets.
Best do this while the dominance lasts. Firefox's market share jumped by a third in the last year to 19%, while Internet Explorer lost 6 percentage points to 73%. Still, even that rival gives it a little credit for the new browser. "They're playing catch-up, but I'm glad they're playing," says John Lilly, chief executive of Firefox publisher Mozilla.
Victoria Barret
Forbes.com; August 27, 2008
