Free Wireless Broadband, Reenergized Microsoft

• Google begins limited test of Wi-Fi service Reuters ...... "....the company was considering building a U.S. broadband network capable of targeting specific advertising to users based on the location of their Wi-Fi..."
• Microsoft Corp. reorganizes to compete better with Google, Yahoo Canadian Business

I had been thinking municipality provided wireless broadband. But Google has trumped me on that one. It has come up with an even better idea. Google provided nationwide wireless broadband. All the user have to do is download a Google toolbar onto their laptops in return. If that were to materialize, Google would grow even more like it were a hot startup. Kudos.

Bill Gates complained during the whole anti-trust legal fiasco that instead of competing with him on products, his competitors were taking him to court. Now he does not have to say that no more. Google is competition. Big G should be happy.



I think he had the option in 1995 to take the lead when a school of thought emerged within Microsoft that company should move from being Windows-centric to being browser-centric. Gates missed that boat. It is said if you learn Newton's theory of gravity too well, that actually prevents you from coming to grips with Einstein's theory of gravity.

Microsoft now has taken a step in the right direction, but it is still hesitant. Software should be online, free and ad-based. That is the leap Google is making and Microsoft is not. That is why Microsoft is not Google.

Google's To Do List Keeps Growing

This New York Times article echoes my blog entry from months back. (Google: Poised To Be The Number One Software Company In The World) That whole IBM to Microsoft to Google succession chain. I think it is inevitable. Empires rise and fall, and that is okay, as long as the tide keeps rising for the average consumer boat.

"Google has already added free e-mail, mapping, news aggregation and digital-photo management to its offerings, bringing it into competition in each case with two or more rivals."

Just look at some of the items on their laundry list:

1. Instant messaging.
2. Services for mobile phone users.
3. Online payment.
4. Internet based phone system.
5. Browser.
6. Software to compete with Microsoft Office.
   

That last one caught my attention. I hope they do not make the mistake of competing with Microsoft in that segment offline. If they do, they will be beat. They should offer an "Office" that is totally online and builds on their, well, Blogger. If they take it online, they win. Message: get away from Windows, stay away from Windows.

Google has the vision, the culture and the resources to tackle absolutely any software challenge on the horizon. They need to stick to the online space, though. They come down to the operating system level, and they are game. Why stoop down when you don't have to?

But first integrate MathML into Blogger. I should be able to do 2+2=4 using a Google online calculator and publish the entire thing at Blogger, the way I can add links and photos right now. And also more complicated stuff like sine, cosine and calculus stuff. Take the calculations and publishing part out of my equation, take them to your equation.



And, yes, their "Office" will also have to be ad supported. Don't start selling software. That would be a big mistake.

Stay within the online and ad supported parameters, and there is no stopping Google.

Every company worth its salt should be able to state its mission statement in one simple sentence. For Google it is "to organize the world's information." Everything on its agenda, real and speculated, fits into that.