Chrome: Google’s Present To Microsoft
September 25, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
So the idea of a cake with a stick of dynamite in it isn’t new.
But what about the idea that Google’s Chrome is actually a “gift” in many ways to Microsoft?
Let me explain a few obvious examples of what I mean.
1. History has proven time and time again that Microsoft is great at taking competitors ideas, incorporating them into their own software and selling a bunch of copies.
With Chrome, Google just gave Microsoft a whole lot of ideas.
2. Chrome signals a new paradigm for the future and possible scary competition to Microsoft. Ever the competitor, this “crisis” gives credence to the demand for “CHANGE” and is many ways a “license” by the public for Microsoft to take bolder steps than maybe they felt comfortable with in the first place.
In other words, Microsoft can now go into “Battle mode”, making rapid changes, upgrades, etc. which will all more likely than not, be better for their users.
3. Chrome is a great example of the concept of completely separating the app from the OS. Sure it runs “web pages”, but when normal users start creating little desktop short cuts to their “Chrome Apps”, people look at things differently.
Indeed, given the release of Chrome, it makes sense now for Microsoft’s to release a slimmed down Windows 7 OS that encourages users to run online apps using Windows Live, eliminating the need to bundle Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker with the OS.
4. Chrome inspires new thinking and new creativity. Combine it with Android and “WOW”, everyone’s imagination is fueled. Beyond more ideas to copy, web developers and programmers everywhere are inspired by it.
It’s likely that some of that inspiration and new creativity has touched some of the developers at Microsoft too. It will be great fun to see what pops out of it.
See the idea now? We already know Chrome was Google’s gift to the “ecosystem”, but it’s also a gift to Microsoft as well.
If you know of other examples on how Chrome is a gift to Microsoft, speak up and post a comment.
“Living In The Google World” – End of Day 1
September 24, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Well…it’s the end of day 1 of “Living in the Google World” and it’s been a bit of a rough day.
Here’s the summary:
1. I WANT MY ROBOFORM!
Without key extensions, some of the fast navigation I do from site to site was slowed considerably as I had to dig my passwords out of RoboForm to manually enter them into each site.
Yes, I had to cheat a bit and use my RoboForm desktop app to access my password.
Tomorrow I will use Roboform2Go that I have installed on a memory key.
2. Is it Chrome or the Site that’s not working?
When I get to a site and find something not working, I immediately wonder whether Chrome is having a problem or the site is having a problem. With Firefox, my first thought is that the site has a problem.
3. Google “Presentation” app…am I missing something?
I need to work on a PPTx presentation. I figured I would open up the presentation briefly in Powerpoint to export it as a PPT and then upload it to Google. No dice. Some how the presentation got corrupted(?) and Powerpoint can’t open it. So I get to rebuild it from scratch using the Google Presentation tool.
Ok. Upload my photos to Picasa Web Album and try to use them in the Google Presentation tool. I ran into the same error I ran into when trying to access a photo on The Chrome Voice this morning. The URL from Picasa Web Album isn’t recognized.
Bleh. Searching the web to find out what to do. Fortunately for me the users in the Picasa forum figured it out…although it involves some editing of the link string (not for normal every day users), I can handle it.
Next I’m distracted by the lack of obvious features in the Google Presentation app. I guess MS Powerpoint’s got me trained to add arrows and other visual guides. I may have missed them in the Google presentation app, but I had to settle for a functional presentation slides for now. Maybe I’ll learn more over the next 7 days, but I’m not really comfortable with the quality of what I have now.
I did take a quick spin to see whether Zoho.com’s presentation app would do better. Unfortunately, I received the following message: ”chrome is not supported for editing”.
Oopsie…
Other work I did:
I did flit in and out of using a Google spreadsheet reasonably easy.
Checking email was a bit of a hassle since I have all my accounts flowing into Thunderbird, but I worked around it by hitting each account from the web manually. I know I can consolidate all my email into Gmail, but I’ll save that for later.
Summary of Day 1 of “Living In The Google World”
1. There’s a learning curve and it took much longer to do things I take for granted using my normal combo of desktop and online apps.
2. The temptation to “revert back” and give up the 7 days of “Living In The Google World” was there, but I figure I just need to get through the acclimation process and things will get better.
3. The thing I missed the most through out the day? All the little extensions and indicators I have plugged in to Firefox and have come to count on as part of my online experience. Things like Roboform, Compete.com’s tool bar and even the Google Toolbar for easy familiar access to all the book marks I’ve created across various computers.
4. I also missed ability to know exactly where I could keep all my working files. If I give in on anything, the first will probably be to start making use of my computer’s hard drive. We’ll see.
Bugs I found?
1. In the process of going “back” to a previous page, I got the little tool tip saying “Click to go back, hold to see history” stuck in the middle of my browser window. It just hovers there, over everything, unclickable and only goes away when I minimize and then maximize the window. It’s not easily recreateable and not a big deal.
Seriously…about RoboForm…
I am a true fan of RoboForm and have it installed on the 4 computers I use the most. Download a free trial version of RoboForm here.
Also, I use RoboForm2Go when I travel. It installs on a memory key and easily syncs with my desktop version of RoboForm. Download a free trial version of RoboForm2Go here.
“Living In The Google World” – The real answer for Microsoft
September 23, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
An article by Garett Rogers in his “Googling Google” blog on ZDNet inspired a response that I thought fit right into this “Living In The Google World Series”.
In his blog, Garett gives the suggest to Microsoft to partner with Google on their search results while secretly building their own new search engine.
That doesn’t make sense because it doesn’t address the real issue…Microsoft’s mindset.
Having lived most of their corporate lives with the growth of desktop computing, that’s the world they live in. Add to it that the company makes most of it’s revenues from OS’s and desktop apps and you can see how easily they can be stuck in the older “desktop world”.
I see one simple answer on how they can fix this:
Microsoft needs to form a division that lives, breathes, eats and sleeps only on the web.
This group needs to eschew any sort of desktop app, use only web apps and mobile devices.
Doing so will clearly put them into the experience of what today’s advanced users and tomorrows regular users need and want. I think it will also put them into the experience that their competition (Google) is living every day.
It’s going to be annoying to them for a while, but they can start by using Chrome and the Google App suite in order to learn it inside and out. This will help knock them even further out of their “Microsoft dominate the world with desktop software 1990’s” mindset.
The knowledge and experience Microsoft gains from this division will make it easy for then to know what to build. From there, they can put their muscle and $ behind building it.
As I mentioned, the nature of their company right now is that their revenues come from the OS and from their apps.
That’s the revenue that makes their company work, so they are compelled to “adapt” that software to work with the new paradigm with mediocre results.
Better to start with a new “class” of thinking and get back into the game before their boat anchor OS’s and desktop apps pull them down any further.
There’s the answer. Easy to say, harder to do. Still, I bet Microsoft could easily do it if they just get out of their own way.
You can read all of Garett’s story here.
