Microsoft ready to battle Google’s Web domination
Microsoft Corp. is making a “big bold bet” on Web services, which it sees as the most important technological development of the next decade, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.
But the software company, whose online division is losing money while rivals like Google (Charts) Inc. thrive, has a unique vision of how these new services will evolve.
Microsoft (Charts) believes Web services will work in tandem with PC-installed software, a vision that differs from that of “software as a service” advocates, such as Salesforce.com (Charts) and Google, who expect services delivered over the Web to replace traditional software.
“We believe this shift is the most important technological transformation during the next decade,” Ballmer said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
Microsoft has invested heavily to expand data centers to house servers and provide the infrastructure to host blogs, e-mail services for small businesses and a slew of other new Web services as part of its “Live” strategy.