Get Off Microsoft

Good news! Competition has returned to the industry. I can go on to better topics now. Thanks for all the fish!

As Apple eats away at Microsoft’s market share on the consumer side of PCs and mobile devices, and Google chips at Microsoft Office’s share in business, Microsoft is caught in the middle and facing a two-front war.

What will change the landscape and make it possible for larger numbers of users, especially corporate users, to overcome Microsoft inertia? I’m tracking the development of software as a service, smartphones that don’t do Windows and don’t need to, Apple’s OS X that may some day run Windows XP apps, and Linux on the desktop, which is growing fast in overseas markets.

Google introduced Google Apps Premier Edition for $50 per account per year. The best thing about these types of Web applications (or Web services) is that the software is NYP — Not Your Problem.

As 2006 closes, the titans of our computer industry have, one way or another, made their visions known to mankind. Three in particular have made interesting, if not influential, comments on the future of the Internet and the world as we know it: Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, Apple’s Steve Jobs, and of course, Microsoft’s Bill Gates.

Microsoft plans to significantly boost spending in the upcoming year to battle with Google and other rivals. The company is starting from scratch, and it scares Wall Street.

So, why not a cheaper Origami-like device from a manufacturer that runs Linux and Web services? And what about Microsoft’s own Origami becoming a leverage for Web services that eventually dethrone Microsoft Office?

Writely.com’s big advantage, besides offering a basic free service that works with most browsers on any computer, is that it makes collaboration on documents a lot easier than ever before.

Bill Gates used the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show to provide yet another glimpse of Microsoft Vista, and Google introduced an online video service that has everyone confused.