Thursday, November 17, 2005

CNET: Google blankets city with free Wi-Fi

It is all set. Google has won its first city over on free Wi-Fi. Not San Francisco yet, the jury is still out on that one, but its home town of Mountain View, California. This will provide free wireless Internet access for the approximately 70,000 residents in the Silicon Valley.

It must be just a matter of time, before cities in the rest of the world is offered the same Wi-Fi blanket. The potential for Google to gather more users and information about them is huge. It could prove very helpful in expanding and monetizing local search for Google. This could turn out to be one of those strategic advantages, that competitors will find very hard to compete with.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Microsoft Is Hilarious

I love Microsoft's sense of humor. Especially because they are making fun of themselves without knowing it. They have for quite a while now run ads, where employees that haven't changed to newer versions of Office are starring as dinosaurs. Like they live in the old world not utilizing the features of the new technology. When in fact, it is Microsoft which is the real old school dinosaur.

Microsoft is clinging onto the desktop model still wishing that Internet had never arrived. And now they are launching Office Live to do online ad ons to their software. Ad ons are just not going to make it. If you don't use the Internet from the core of your business strategy, but merely trying to do some enhancements - mainly because your competitors are very online and you are not - its not going to work.

Microsoft, you have had your years in the sun, but you are the true dinosaur about to become if not extinct then really unimportant.