13th May 2009 Google Microsoft Others Commentary

Browser Firefox, Opera,

Mozilla

Google Chrome is growing fast but Microsoft Internet

Explorer still has hold of the userbase.

Web History

Google has Web History to record web surfing habits from

Google whereas Microsoft has several weeks history in

Internet Explorer.

Web Search Yahoo, Ask

Google jumps to mind when performing a web search, Live

Search has some catching up to do.

Custom Searching

Google has Blog search, Scholar Search and Book Search in

development

Web Directory DMOZ, Yahoo

Google Directory utilises the Open Directory Project

Desktop Search

Google had an early lead but Microsoft Desktop search

integrates neatly into Office applications

Image Search

Microsoft Image Search bought up more appropriate images

to the search terms I used.

News BBC, CNN

Google News usefully collates many of the headlines on an

'at a glance' page

Mobile Access

Google benefits from less clutter on the mobile screen

API Tools

Who is opening up their various platform quickly and easily ?

Public Profile Tools Facebook, MySpace,

Xing, LinkedIn

Neither comes close to the public profiles offered by others

but Microsoft Public Profile pips Google to the post

Ads

Google Adsense and Adwords are pretty much the defacto

standard

Discussion Groups

Google Groups are easier to get started and quicker to use

Blogging Tools Wordpress, TypePad

Google has focused on Blogger but Microsoft seem to use a

number of blogging platforms including Live Spaces

Email Alerts

Google Alerts have revolutionised we get information - but

watching for things we are interested in and dropping us an

email

Mail

Microsoft Hotmail is pretty good but Google Mail has the

edge

Contacts

Microsoft have Live People which brings contact information

from various platforms together, Google relies on Google

Mail

Note Taking

Google Notebook is pretty handy, a Microsoft equivalent

does not jump to mind (other than One Note)

Image Library Flickr

Google has Picasa and Web Albums, Microsoft have Live

Photos - Picasa is very handy.

Instant Messaging AIM

Google has Talk but Microsoft have Messenger - handy as it

is often pre-installed.

Bookmarking Delicious,

StumbleUpon

Google Bookmarks can be shared but is there a quick and

handy way of sharing bookmarks from Microsoft?

Social Media Facebook, Myspace

Google Orkut has its loyal followers but has failed to capture

hearts like MySpace and FaceBook have

Syndication Tools

Google has Feedburner and Google Reader, Microsoft uses

Outlook for reading feeds

Analytics Alexa, Compete,

Woopra, Quantcast

Google Analytics has quite extensive information

Calendaring

Both Microsoft Calendar and Google Calendar are pretty

similar but Google Calendar has the edge in its simplicity.

Who has the better Web Services?

Mapping Multimap

With Google Earth and Google Street View on the horizon -

Google has this one licked

Start Page Netvibes

Google has iGoogle but Microsoft is catching up slowly with

Live Home

Website Building

Google has Page Creator and Sites - they are usable not very

intuitive, it is easier to get started with Live Spaces

Webmaster Tools

Google has Webmaster Tools to help us sort our websites out

-Microsoft has Webmaster Center which is also pretty handy.

Office Applications

Microsoft still have the edge with Office - and will likely stay

this way until we move onto the web completely.

Shared Office Applications

Google Docs may have simplicity but it is simpler to use - it

does appear lack auditing and backup tools to make it really

useful.

Translation Tools Babelfish, Systran

You can't beat human translation but automated tools are

handy. Google has a good translator but Microsoft has the

side by side feature in Microsoft Translator.

Storage

Microsoft have SkyDrive, the excellent Mesh and Office Live.

Google have yet to offer a suitable product.

Family Safety

Google has SafeSarch Filterting but Microsoft have Family

Safety

Gaming

Microsoft has X-Box live as well as Microsoft Game Studios -

what does Google have?

Most Open

Many of Microsoft employees blog and Microsoft often run

roadshows and technical events across the UK - I have never

heard of a local Google UK Event..

Hardware

Google has the Enterprise search box but Microsoft has its

peripherals.

New Technologies Twitter

Google has Book Search, Latitude, Google Earth (and its

derivatives) but Microsoft has Surface Computing, Server

Products, and Game Studios.

Google Or Microsoft ? 22 16 GoogleIt is a lot closer than I first imagined -

what do you think?