Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Will Google win the enterprise?: "It remains to be seen whether Google will be able to adapt its noble and strongly-held 'user empowerment' ideology to the realities of big-company operations. The company's confidence and arrogance are strengths, but they're also weaknesses.
But Worthen ends on the right note. Even if 'Google implodes on its own, done in by growth, internal squabbling or hubris,' he writes, 'the model will survive and thrive. Applications are destined to move to the Web. Perhaps not all at once, and maybe not even quickly (after all, companies are still running Cobol applications on mainframes), but Google has demonstrated that the Web computing model is viable ... And that's going to change everything for CIOs.'"
If I were using categories for this blog, I'd categorize this post (read the full essay, BTW) under "Google c2006 == Netscape c1996?"
Peter: I'd be interested to know what your thoughts are on Google's long-term prospects, especially in terms of competing with Microsoft. It remains to be seen if Google will be able to hold back a company that is surprisingly nimble and persistent, which it's shown time and again when it spots a must-have market (i.e. Apple, Netscape, AOL (per MSN), Palm, etc.), though Google seems to have more resources and mindshare than any of its predecessors.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Some quick thoughts in response:
ReplyDeleteAll I can say for sure about Google's future is that it won't be dull. It will be relatively brighter if the company stays focused more on what its customers/users want than attempts to thwart Microsoft.
Google won't remain so nimble and resourceful for long; it will face the same challenges Microsoft did 30 years ago, as it continues to scale its organization, has to address large customer and user populations, etc. No argument on Google's resource and mindshare levels, but I don't think Google's current financial leverage will last, and its mindshare may be closer to one-click brand loyalty than most people assume. Google's perplexing series of bad will-generating actions also haven't helped.
As for Microsoft being nimble: nothing galvanizes Microsoft into focused and concerted action more than strategic and credible competitive threats. It's certainly not a foregone conclusion that Microsoft will be able to leapfrog Google, but history suggests, as you noted, that Microsoft is effective at adapting and responding to competitive challenges.