Microsoft versus Google and a third Player

It is perhaps the mother of all battles. The two gladiators have been moving in circles waiting for the other to make a move. And now that the move is made, we will see a no holds bar fight to finish.

That the two giants, Microsoft and Google, will collide was in a way inevitable. If it were not Google it would have been some other player. At the root of this competition is different view points of how people of this world need to communicate.

As Philip Kotler and John Caslione puts it very aptly in their book Chaotics, "information is communication and communication is information."

Will desktops - the domain of microsoft - remain the nodal point for communication or will the internet cloud - no one really dominates this space yet, Google is trying and so are companies like Yahoo (no, please don't write it off yet) and Amazon (Amazon?) - take over? That's the question.

Google's announcement of its free Chrome Operating System that will piggy back on Linux has clearly rattled Microsoft. Otherwise why else will it make foolish announcement that it is going to launch an online version of its Office Suite next year. Next year??? Clearly Microsoft has nothing up its sleeves right now. Who waits for one year today?

Will Google win or will Microsoft?

Here's a little bit of clairvoyance:
Google is opening up doors in the Internet space, but rarely does the me-first company win in this domain (Google itself came in late). I predict that a third company that has a better understanding of how Internet works will take over. At present the only company who has really understood how Internet works is - no not Google, not Amazon, not Yahoo. Yes Apple Inc. Apple understands the Internet better than any of these players. Witness the business model of iPod and iPhone. And once Google makes desktop a non-entity, Apple that has played second fiddle with its brilliant operating system will come on its own and steal the show.

Now who wants to place a bet?

Kindle 2.0

There are rumours that Kindle 2.0 will be released shortly. It might have colour display - right now it is only black & white - and may remove certain design defects (read below).

Just before I hear, Kindle ... what?, let me give a two line overview.

Kindleis a light-weight e-reader that is easy on the eye because of the e-paper technology. There are other e-readers in the market, and cheaper, such as Sony, but Kindle scores because of its content.

After all it is an Amazon product and there are more titles available on Kindle when compared to others. However, Kindle has a proprietary format and it is difficult to use with PDF format. There are several other design issues but the content rules. Besides, one can purchase and download (e)books, (e)magazines, blogs, etc. wirelessly on to Kindle. One could also download content over Internet.


What are the design issues?
First it is no apple product. If you expect an ubercool design, forget it.

Second, if you have ever "looked into" a book on Amazon, you would notice that the extract has two long side bars to move forward and backward. That makes it quite easy to use on a computer because you can point the mouse to any point on the side bar and move pages. Unfortunately, Kindle has duplicated this concept in a product that is held in hand. So you could accidentally depress the forward/backward key while reading.

Some people have cribbed about the lack of backlight (they are missing the point - the Kindle is supposed to replace paper and paper does not come backlit) and also about the fact that the Kindle cover does not stay (a most trivial point).

Do I have it?
Unfortunately no. It is not sold outside US.

Why do I speak of it?
Because I have spent most of my leisure hours lusting after it. I must have spent hours visiting Amazon, reading reviews and deriving vicarious pleasure from comments of those who possess Kindle.

I find it surprising that Amazon does not sell Kindle world-wide. There is such a huge market for Kindle that lies outside America. Whispernet may not be available outside of America. I do not want my newspaper delivered every morning on Kindle by wireless. but the convenience of buying and downloading books over Internet is a big plus. Just imagine having all my books on Kindle. 

Laptop ... iPod ... Kindle
Kindle will make my e-life complete.

Note: I have taken the picture of Kindle from the Amazon website.

iPod is a Life Saver

Picture this ...

Traffic moving at a snail's pace ... motor cycles trying to weave their way through ... drivers honking their heart out ... all of a sudden someone turns on his music system and all you can hear is a dull thump hammering against your brain ... and just when the traffic starts moving the vehicle ahead of you stops dead.

Aaaargh!

Enough to give you road rage. Good thing India doesn't have gun laws like America has. The roads would be bloody.

In all this chaos if you see some one driving with an angelic smile, two white wires sticking out of his ears, giving way to others as they cut sharply across, and actually enjoying traffic jams ... you can be sure that he is on an Apple iPod (or something similar).

iPod can be a life saver in such cases. I have loaded all those wonderful German podcasts available at Deutsche Welle on my iPod. These german lessons are woven around interesting stories.

Here's how my iPod helps me ...

a) Since driving with attention diverted to podcasts could be dangerous, I slow down and that makes my driving safer.

b) It keeps away noise from the traffic surrounding me.

c) Since I am more interested to listen to one complete episode that reaching office, a traffic jam does not bother me. In fact I welcome it at times.

d) I learn German the best way possible - by complete immersion.

e) And most importantly, I don't get involved in road rage crimes.

I wish every one on the road was on an iPod trip. It saves life.

Note: The picture used belongs to Nathaniel Dodson (see gallery)