Marketwatch: Microsoft cannot beat Google's roots

Marketwatch published an analysis article today, saying that Microsoft's current biggest capital is undoubtedly their rich cash reserves. Now this software giant is desperately trying to use it with courage, it is expected to attract users to use their own search engines rather than Google's services. This is somewhat like a strategy they used and succeeded in many competitors in the past.

Microsoft not only provides discounts for its advertising partners, but also discounts for people who shop online through their live search engine, in fact, they need to pay for it themselves-but they can afford it. Of course, their behavior is actually tantamount to admitting their own failure-in the fastest growing field of revenue creation on the Internet, they suffered a huge failure.

In fact, Google (GOOG) is also attempting to intervene in Microsoft's most important market, where it damages the company and is providing a series of free home and commercial applications. Microsoft apparently hopes to adopt the same strategy to crack Google's back.

Rob Enderle, chief analyst at Enderle Group in San Jose, Calif., said, "If Microsoft can really reduce the profit margin in the search market, they have done a pretty counterattack against Google ."

The key is, Will Microsoft's strategy work? Will Google become the next AltaVista? The latter is the darling of search engines in the early stages of the Internet, developed by Digital Equipment Corp. of Palo Alto, California. After its creation in 1995, it became one of the most popular search engines due to its powerful speed, minimal user interfaces, and accurate results.

However, in 2000, Google emerged in Mountain View, California. The company established by two doctoral students at Stanford University has become the largest search engine by virtue of its excellent analysis and classification capabilities.

I don't think Google will embark on the old path of Altavista. Now there are too many computer users who have established the habit of using Google. For them, using Google is just a subconscious choice. It is too difficult for people to change their habits, give up Google, and switch to other search engines. What's more, Google toolbar has been embedded in their browsers.

The current conflict between Microsoft and Google makes it easy to think of another war of that year. The other is Microsoft, and the other is IBM ). At that time, IBM was working with Microsoft to develop an operating system called OS/2 To Run IBM's PS/2 computer, replacing MS-DOS and a Windows operating system that was not at the time. Microsoft continues to work hard to improve the performance of windows. When their Windows 3.0 was a great success, their cooperation with IBM became even more real. IBM eventually took over all the development and sales tasks of OS/2, and the results fell into a bottomless pit.

"IBM releases the product free of charge and tries to accept it in this way ." Andre commented, "free does not necessarily mean victory. If you really want to stimulate demand by some means, you must give consumers what they really want ."

IDC analysts agree with Andrew's opinions. They wrote in the study that consumers may want to accept coupons, discounts, prices, and more, as evidenced by the history of the retail industry. "Live Search measures may not immediately change people's behavior, however, Microsoft can indeed obtain a considerable number of stable e-commerce partners who will pay close attention to the situation."

How does Google respond to Microsoft's challenges? This is an interesting question. So far, people haven't gotten any news from Google, but even if Google is forced to take corresponding promotion measures, I don't think it will become AltaVista or Netscape second. They are too dominant and have a profound influence on consumers.

On Wednesday, Wall Street analysts said that the ComScore data in April showed that Google's share in the U.S. search market was further expanded. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney pointed out that Google accounts for 61.6% of the U.S. search market, while Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search both account for 20.4% and 9.1% respectively, all shrinking.

However, I am afraid Google will never govern. They will face the challenge of degraded search, and the results will not be so accurate. Some users may switch to vertical search engines.

Microsoft is taking a very bold move, which is likely to cause turmoil in the entire search market. In this regard, their internal emails earlier this week are correct. If consumers are willing to swallow Microsoft's bait, their pressure may also suppress Google's profits. Analysts performed exceptionally quietly on Wednesday, with some saying nothing, and others frantically listing the potential impact of Google's earnings. However, I stick to my opinion that this attack is not fatal to Google.

(Author: Therese Poletti)