Google vs. MSN
26 Jul 2005 
around lunchtime 
Matt Winckler
Bloomberg is saying that MSN Virtual Maps may not save Microsoft’s slide in market share. Personal animosity and rancor towards Microsoft aside, these stories of “lumbering giant vs. agile underdog” always amuse me. Google certainly isn’t an underdog anymore, and by my logic sure ought to be headed toward lumbering gianthood. Yet while reading this story it’s nearly impossible to avoid such imagery. Bloomberg, whether intentionally or not (and I suspect the former), paints Microsoft as a blundering behemoth that’s arrived on the search engine scene a day late and a dollar short.
For instance: the article points out that while “Microsoft has had the ability to develop a satellite map service for MSN since 1998″, Bill Gates only decided to rush the project out the door when Google unveiled Maps in April of this year. Gates gave his company a 100-day deadline to have a product ready for launch, while his technical people were telling him that satellite images in maps would take a year to develop.
Conversely, according to Bloomberg, Google added some satellite images to its maps product in 24 hours, as part of a bet between managers. “Google Maps project manager Bret Taylor, 25, bet a co-worker that his team could put the images into maps within a day. The group won dinner out at Palo Alto, California’s trendy Cuban restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio, which boasts a cigar divan and lines its walls with original watercolors and drawings from Cuban artists.” A bet between managers? I love it! Naturally, this isn’t a fair comparison, because Google certainly knew where they were going and had doubtless implemented architecture to allow them to add satellite images, whereas Microsoft was spending time developing such an architecture. But that’s also part of the point: where has Microsoft been for the past seven years?
The article also points out that “Google has already matched some of the functions Microsoft touted as exclusive, including a feature that put street and building names on the satellite maps. Less than 72 hours before MSN’s release, Google rolled out a version that copied it.” This could be coincidence, or it could be raw agility. From a software development perspective, it seems clear from the end results that Google, for the most part, has spent good time developing a solid and extensible architecture behind its products. Given solid groundwork, adding new features is easy.
Back-and-forth escapades like these, regardless of who is involved, always amuse me, particularly when it’s clear that the winning player is dancing and laughing lightly while the other is concentrating furiously and grinding away at code. Google is obviously on the ball here, and MSN is playing catch-up. The back-and-forth action comes across as Google the cat toying with Microsoft the mouse.
But lest we lose all semblance of balance and fairness here, let us all pay heed to that respected purveyor of wisdom, Microsoft CEO Steve “Developers! Developers! Developers!” Ballmer. In a speech this past May, Ballmer expressed his doubts concerning the long term viability of Google: “Clearly alluding to Microsoft’s key Internet search rival, Ballmer said: ‘The hottest company right now — the one nobody thinks can do any wrong — may just be a one-hit wonder.’” Uhhh, yes. Indeed. The article opens with the sentence: “Never let it be said that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer isn’t competitive.” Personally, I think the snippet reads somewhat better after a healthy s/etitive/letely stoned/, but that’s just me…it is just possible, albeit phenomenally improbable, that Ballmer is a visionary in disguise. Personally, I’m waiting for GooOS.