|
Microsoft is under threat 24 hours a day from Google and Yahoo!. It’s not just that Google reinvented the search
industry and caught Microsoft with its snooze button activated—that has happened numerous times before and Microsoft
has bought and coded its way to success in new fields. And it’s not just that Google and Yahoo! have made aggressive
claims to the desktop with their personal searching programs and widgets.
Next week Microsoft will
reportedly open its Web-based
products to third-party development by releasing API (Application Programming Interfaces), a tactic both Google and
Yahoo! have already embraced. Allowing developers to extend and improve the functions of their services strengthens the
core products and the brand reputations of Google and Yahoo!. The danger to Microsoft is in encouraging the trendy
shift away from desktop applications to Web applications. Microsoft has never been a consumer services company, and its
monstrous legacy business is based on closed incremental products that are starting to look old-fashined. Microsoft has
no choice but to allow independent developers keep its fledgling Web services (search, maps, etc.) current and moving
forward. [first noticed in Slashdot]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
© 2005 Weblogs, Inc.
| 
