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Windows 7: Microsoft's secret weapon against Google

By Preston Gralla

October 27, 2008 12:00 PM ET

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I expect that there will be plenty of other hooks in Windows 7 to get people to go to Windows Live. And I don't expect all of those hooks to be consumer-oriented like Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. Don't be surprised if there are enterprise-related hooks as well.

All this may be clever marketing, but it won't work. Microsoft may be able to push users to Windows Live, but if it doesn't build better search and better services than Google, people will stay with Google.

If Microsoft wants to eat into Google's share of the search market, there's only one thing it can do: Build better search. If it wants to make sure that Google doesn't threaten its near-monopoly of productivity suites, it will need to make some version of Office available over the Internet.

The key to battling Google is building better software and services. Stripping useful applications out of Windows isn't the way to win the war.

Preston Gralla is a Computerworld contributing editor and the author of more than 35 books, including How the Internet Works and Windows Vista in a Nutshell. Contact him at preston@gralla.com.

This column originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition.

More From Preston Gralla

Read more about operating systems in Computerworld's Operating Systems Knowledge Center.

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