Apple went to war head on and failed. Linux tried “free” but their efforts were unfocused and uncoordinated.

Google took a different tactic. It’s seeded a revolution by handing out weapons of mass destruction to everyday people.

Rather than fight the war itself, Google took the role of “arms dealer” and started giving away weapons of mass destruction for free.

Those weapons?

Gmail, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Adwords and Adsense, Google Voice, Android, the Chrome browser, the Chrome OS…and others.

When you think about it this way…Google isn’t fighting anyone…and Microsoft is literally fighting everyone…very clever.

I never count Microsoft out, but one has to wonder how can they compete when everyday people have such powerful alternatives…or should I say weapons?

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Google: Arms Dealing in Weapons of Mass Destruction

Today, we’re in the world of WinMobile failing, the Chrome OS around the corner, announcements of Android based netbooks and rumors of the Chrome OS rolling out soon in China on non-Intel processor machines.

Reminds me of Sun Tzu’s Art of War:

• “Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.”
  
• “Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.”

Or more directly, don’t attack the enemy (Windows/Intel/monopoly) head on, instead go where they are weak (Mobile/Netbooks/open market).

Is there any question on we’re watching a well organized world revolution in progress?

No seriously, any question at all?

Post from: The Chrome Voice "The Chrome Voice" is your source for news and information about the Google Chrome browser.

The Google Revolution and Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”

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. 

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Chrome: Google’s Present To Microsoft

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.

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“Living In The Google World” – The real answer for Microsoft

“Seriously…we didn’t disassemble Vista….”

In his special report for ZDNet, Stephen Shankland, writes that even though comments in Chromium (open source code for Chrome) indicate otherwise, Google denies disassembling Window’s Vista to get the “Data Execution Prevention” security code to work in Chrome.

That’s good news for Google, because had they indeed followed their own suggestion to disassemble Vista’s kernal32.dll file to understand how the security code works, they would have been in violation of Vista’s EULA.

Google says “We did not disassemble this code” in one statement, but then shows their support for using the technique saying “Disassembling is a common and accepted practice in software development, frequently used to make sure software features are compatible with other software programs or operating systems”.

To me it sounds like someone did disassemble the code and put the comment in Chromium before the Google legal and PR team knew it.

The net result is “who cares”. I doubt there was evil intent behind it and besides, I’m guessing Microsoft has probably done the same once or twice in it’s 30 year history. I bet the same goes for Mozilla developers too.

To see Stephen Shankland’s full report, go here.

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Chrome Browser Team Did Not Disassemble Microsoft Vista