The BitWorm SEO Blog

Google’s chrome isn’t a direct attack on Microsoft, unlike what the general consensus of many news agencies and blogs seem to be reporting. 

At least, it isn’t any more of an attack than Ford’s Model T was an direct attack against buggy whip manufacturers.  Ford didn’t set out to hurt the buggy whip companies, but rather to make a car everyone could afford.

Might Microsoft be hurt?  Probably.  However, any pain would be collateral damage due to lack of their own proactive action.  Words mean things.  “Attack” is a word that implies intent.  I don’t think that’s present here, or at least not as a primary driving factor.

Let’s look at the current day reality of the browser market and Google apps.

Google makes advanced web applications that push the limits of the current browser technology, just like how Microsoft’s Windows OS pushed the limits of Intel’s hardware with each release.  Moore’s law is a great thing for Microsoft.  The hardware keeps get better by orders of magnitude.

Here’s the rub – Google has pushed the limits of the current generation of web browsers, while the browser technology has stood still.  Yes, FireFox 3 is an improvement, as is the IE8 beta, but they’re both merely a step in the right direction, not the leap that is needed…and Google’s apps still don’t have any head-room.

Google needs drastic improvements in certain features to push their overall apps and technologies forward.  They’ve been waiting a while, and the market hasn’t responded, so they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands. 

The browser being Open Source is evidence of this.  They don’t really want to “own” this thing, but they know they need it badly enough to make it themselves.

To Microsoft, this may look like an attack.  From my view of the current browser market, it’s a company that is reliant on a commodity product deciding the commodity quality is not acceptable, and taking action in the most direct way possible.