LONDON: Is Google becoming the new Microsoft? On one level, the question is preposterous, as the two companies do different things. Google is the most widely used internet search engine and dominates online advertising. Microsoft rules the world of computer operating systems: its ubiquitous Windows powers most of the world’s personal computers. In addition, Microsoft has a commanding position in basic office software, such as word-processing and spreadsheets.

But increasingly, the two technology giants are treading on each other’s toes. For instance, Microsoft is building a search engine business, while Google is launching products that allow users to tap into Google-branded word processing and other web services.

The war between the two has become especially bitter as Google has been poaching some of the best talent from Microsoft, infuriating its executives and spooking its investors.

But Google seems to be winning the battle for hearts and minds as it presents itself as the place to work if you are young, ambitious and talented. Thirty years ago, Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates conveyed a similar message. History is turning full circle.

But as Google expands into new areas across the media landscape, threatening companies far beyond Microsoft, it is also attracting some of the fear and loathing with which Gates is all too familiar.

When Microsoft became dominant in the 80s and 90s, it made enemies in high places, as rivals complained that it acted like a monopoly; investigations on either side of the Atlantic were launched into whether it was abusing its market position.

Google is not under investigation by anti-trust bodies and it appears to have the goodwill of its customers, as surveys show it enjoys widespread popularity. Microsoft, on the other hand, tends to polarise opinion: “People either hate it or love it, there is nothing much in between,” says one computer buff.

But as the Google empire extends its reach, the company led by Larry Page and Sergey Brin is coming under fire from a number of quarters. Take Google’s strategy of marrying search with content that saw Brin and Page splash out $1.65bn for YouTube, sending shock waves around the global media industry. “A search engine that can show films and pretty much anything else for free looks like it can turn the world of entertainment on its head,” says one analyst. But old media has hit back.

Viacom, which owns MTV, has filed a $1bn lawsuit, alleging that 160,000 of its clips, from hit programmes such as The Daily Show and SpongeBob SquarePants, are being aired without its permission. The company has asked whether it is right for YouTube to make millions from advertising when some of its attractions are made up of pirated content — an allegation that parent company Google vigorously denies.

But it is about something else as well. According to Greg Sterling, head of Sterling Market Intelligence, a New York-based research agency specialising in internet companies, Google has an image problem. He says: “In the industry, around Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, there is a perception that Google is the Microsoft of the internet. It has to do with power, of course. In simple terms, Google has become a victim of its own success.”

To propel itself forward, Google must take risks to protect its pre-eminent position, while seeking out new ways of generating revenue in a media market that is increasingly cut-throat. —Dawn/The Observer News Service