With Google desktop, Google has the potential to create a new
platform and displace the incumbent's (MSFT) hold on the OS layer.
Although this is a play from the Netscape playbook, there are clear
differences. Netscape's ambition was to provide an application
toolkit that would encourage software vendors to write to their
browser platform and thereby render the underlying OS to a commodity
status. As is well documented, this strategy did not work when MSFT
"cut off their air supply."
What is different with Google's case is that it doesn't just provide
a toolkit. Google has content (8 billion indexed pages, data on
consumer behavior), and applications for search to go along with the
toolkit. The recent launch of the Desktop application allows Google
to integrate all their services. This application provides users with
access to information residing within and outside the PC. As a
result, consumers would get accustomed to seeing this application as
the start page on their computer. In addition to this, with
developers creating more "mash-up" applications that work with Google
applications, Google has a better chance to establish a layer between
the applications and OS platform. Once this layer is established,
they can choose to work on any OS platform.
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