Is Google following Microsoft’s footsteps?

With the announcement of their new web browser Google Chrome, is Google starting down the path of Microsoft? I thought I would jot down a few of my thoughts on the subject.

Google is the King of Search, hands down. While it is only #2 ranked website on Alexa, #1 being held by Yahoo, it is the #1 for searching the web and on-line advertising. Yahoo offers a much larger bredth and variety of products, such as games, music, etc. #3 is Google’s billion dollar purchase YouTube.com. Next comes in Microsoft’s Windows Live at the #4 spot.

Google up and till now has always been a “web company.” Almost all of its products have been web based, suchs as Gmail, Google Docs, etc. The few that aren’t are programs that are used to interact with Google’s online product, such as Picasa, Google Earth, Google Desktop, etc. With the annoucement of Google Chrome, that has all changed. In theory, you could use Google Chrome without ever using another Google product.

Now, many people will tell me “dude, its a web browser, google is a web company.” I totally agree, it makes sense. I think that it is great for web developers, as now, if done right, there might be a browser war between Google and Microsoft. While some people might say “What about FireFox and Apple’s Safari?” Yes those browsers have put Microsoft on edge, losing maybe 7-10% of their market share to these alternatives, but Google’s position in the enterprise level is comparitively close to Microsoft’s. Microsoft can feel serious competition and presure from Google. I’m a strong believer that competition brings out the best products, and if Google makes Chrome a great alternative to Internet Explorer, Microsoft will be forced to step up their efforts.

So why am I concerned? I fear that down the road Google might lose it’s focus. I love Google for doing it’s best for web technologies. It’s searching capabilities are fantastic. I just hope that it stays focused. Microsoft got caught up in doing everything for the PC. Just looking at their list of products is enormous, which this list is an incomplete list. What happens? Somehow Microsoft loses focus on Windows Vista and makes it a large, bloated pig. I use Vista, and I have been using it ever since it was first released. I think it has a lot of improvements, but how it could get away with being so slow is beyond me.

Maybe Google can branch out and make great software that isn’t search or web based, but I’d rather have an amazing Google, than an okay Do-Everything company.