Dell, HP, Apple

Dell has been a pioneer. I have appreciated its singular focus over decades to bring the price down for the consumer. Dell reminds me of Walmart.

HP places major emphasis on innovation, and hence Carly Fiorina's famous criticism of Dell being a "one trick wonder." HP reminds me of NASA.



Apple is a high class act. Steve Jobs is the guy you go to to get your BMW. Apple sells cool.

All three are PC companies ill suited for a paradigm shift. You can't eat your own belly.

PC

Dell
Dell/EMC
Michael Dell
Hewlett-Packard
Apple Computer
History of Apple Computer
Toshiba
Compaq
List of Intel microprocessors
Intel Corporation
Cisco Systems
Google
Microsoft
IBM
Oracle Corporation
Sun Microsystems
Sam Walton
Quixtar

In The News

Rupert Murdoch Speaks His Mind BusinessWeek "I just want to live forever" .... "I enjoy myself too much." ..... The prospect of supporting New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for President is "really tempting," said Murdoch, who noted that such a campaign would cost Bloomberg "a billion dollars, which apparently doesn't worry him." ..... When asked about his relationship with Senator Hillary Clinton (D–N.Y.), Murdoch replied that, along with the questioner, he didn't understand it. ..... Murdoch's sensibility and wit were honed at newspaper tabloids, and they surfaced in some sly onstage jabs. Recalling a fund-raiser he held for Senator Clinton, he said "she was very impressive in the way she handled issues, and sidestepped them." ...... a Fox Business Channel would launch this fall .... Pressed on the point of political bias, he casually lashed out at the Times. It's "outrageously biased," he said. "Just read Page One every day." He compared it to his less objective, more visceral New York Post, which he said designed its Page One to sell papers. ...... Murdoch, now married to the Chinese-American former News Corp. executive Wendi Deng, also made it clear his ardor had cooled for the media business in China. India "is a working democracy, with rule of law. We find it is most exciting" among developing countries for media. ..... "China is immense, [but its government] is not opening it up yet."
Google Steps Into Microsoft's Office the search leader has offered a test version of an online office productivity software suite, called Google Apps for Your Domain, that lets companies offload e-mail systems to Google while keeping their own e-mail addresses. Soon, it's expected to add word-processing and spreadsheet services to the suite, which includes an online calendar, chat service, and Web page builder. In coming weeks, Google Apps will turn into a real business as Google begins charging corporations a subscription fee amounting to a few dollars per person per month. ..... Microsoft's stated aim to extend its Office franchise to the Web—suggests that before long these two titans of tech will be battling over many of the same corporate customers. .... a dawning era in corporate computing: software delivered as a service over the Internet, so it's accessible anywhere there is a Web browser handy. This time consumers are leading the way as they flock to Web-based applications such as e-mail, chat, and phone services like eBay Inc.'s (EBAY ) Skype Technologies ..... As traditional corporate software has grown complex and expensive to maintain, Web services are getting more capable and reliable every year. "For the first time, consumer-grade applications are good enough that they can be used by enterprises" .... Arizona State University plans to switch most of its 65,000 students to Gmail, Google Calendar, and a customized "start page" this month. ..... Corporate users, accustomed to feature-rich applications from the likes of Microsoft and IBM (IBM ), are more demanding than consumers. ..... Google got a taste last October when it switched over most of its own employees, who mainly had used Microsoft Outlook e-mail and Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL ) calendar program, to Gmail and Google Calendar. Some features on the old systems that Googlers considered crucial—such as a way to schedule all those company-paid massages—weren't available on the new system. In all, employees shot back more than 1,000 requests for new features in the first two weeks after the changeover. ........ Office Live, which offers Web-based e-mail, calendar, and other services in packages ranging from free to $39.95 a month for a single business. Some 250,000 small businesses use it, compared with tens of thousands using Google Apps ...... Zimbra Inc. boasts more than 6 million e-mail boxes at 1,300 paying customers.
Rivals Say HP Is Using Hardball Tactics Cheaper store-brand inkjet printer cartridges have come on strong recently and now make up about a quarter of the market for replacement cartridges in the U.S. ..... those replacement cartridges typically sell for 10% to 15% less than HP's ...... "The speculation is that [Staples] reached a deal with HP and got increased margin and soft money for marketing"
GM: Learning the Ropes in Russia They created GM-Avtovaz, a $340 million joint venture based near the main Avtovaz factory in Togliatti. The thinking was that partnership with Avtovaz would give GM an inside track on penetrating the Russian market and help GM keep costs down by sourcing cheap components from Avtovaz. In turn, Avtovaz expected that GM would help provide management know-how, technology, and access to export markets. ...... Russian consumers proved to be just as discerning as Westerners when it comes to insisting on the latest technology. ..... tensions between the two partners erupted into open conflict in early 2006, when Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms-export agency, took over Avtovaz and brought in new managers. Avtovaz suddenly stopped supplying engines and other components to the venture, accusing GM of underpaying for parts. ...... Ford (F), now the best-selling foreign car brand in Russia .... The betting is that GM will do better on its own, rather than entangled with a Russian partner.
Davos Ponders a U.S.-Iran War a confab devoted to the peaceful advances of globalization. .... an agenda devoted to the broad topics of peaceful reform was quickly overshadowed by the idea that the Bush Administration would start a war against the mullah-dominated regime of Tehran .... a U.S.-Iran conflict would set the clock back for the whole area. "Can we afford another war?" asked Mubarak. "Of course not. All the genies would come out of the bottle." ...... the huge illiteracy rate in the region—some 70 million lack basic reading and writing skills. Such a deficit he suggested, was responsible for the radicalization of certain elements in the region, especially in Iraq—many Iraqis lacked the tools to form a rounded, accurate worldview. ..... moderates in the Arab world often were mistaken by Americans as being moderate out of sympathy with the U.S. Not true: "We're moderates for the sake of our country .... That world right now is deeply worried about another American war in its midst.
What To Expect At Davos 23 different risks, such as global warming, terrorism, oil price shocks, a hard landing for China, and so on. ..... 2,400 people—half business, half other stakeholders in the global society, including 25 heads of state ..... everywhere in society and business, the power is moving from the center to the periphery. Vertical command-and-control structures are being eroded and replaced by communities and different platforms. We are moving into the Web 2.0 world, and this has tremendous implications on the national level and on business models. .... If we don't discuss and solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the world will look very different in 10 years.
Selling Globalization at Davos while the thousands of luminaries gathered in this alpine bubble share a common belief in the benefits of globalization, they are also aware that it enjoys far less support among ordinary citizens. ...... rising signs of anti-globalization—ranging from the potential failure of the Doha round of trade talks to concerns that countries may erect trade barriers to protect jobs and markets. ...... How to convince a wary public that the risks of globalization are outweighed by the economic benefits .... "We have to stop using abstract concepts such as GDP growth and explain globalization instead in terms such as job creation, prices, and taxes," Davis said. Most people, he explained, don't realize that the same forces pulling jobs offshore also drive down prices for the goods they buy at the local superstore. ...... acknowledge the arguments of globalization opponents and take concrete steps to address their legitimate concerns ..... a national health-care system. .... retraining programs for displaced workers. .... globalization means customizing its products for different markets, putting staff on the ground all over the world, and investing deeply in local communities. ...... Unilever, for instance, is famous for selling products such as shampoo and laundry soap in tiny packets that cost people of limited means only pennies. "This is business, not philanthropy, and we make lots of money from it," Cescau said. At the same time, the company supports programs such as Project Shakti, which teaches poor women in rural India about nutrition and hygiene. ........ one reason globalization isn't more appealing is that it demands more work and greater risk-taking from everybody—including people in emerging economies .... local providers who previously enjoyed a cozy local market may suddenly face increased competition—or even ruin—from a deep-pocketed multinational that moves into the market. ...... globalization has victims on all sides ...... globalization also has beneficiaries on all sides ..... corporate social responsibility .... it has to be built into each corporation's fundamental strategy. "You can't have a healthy company without a healthy community." ...... Properly executed, globalization also creates huge opportunity. "Having a global market to serve is an incentive to innovate more," noted Columbia University professor and economist Joseph Stiglitz. ...... the learning that takes place when people from around the world work together. ..... India's famous "frugal engineering" culture ...... In today's car industry, knowing how to design a cheap car is an invaluable skill
The Transformation of Turkey Hrant Dink, the outspoken editor of Turkey's main Turkish and Armenian-language newspaper, was gunned down. ..... Tens of thousands of Turks have demonstrated to condemn the murder and demand justice. ...... the power of networks to promote change, open closed societies, and cross cultural barriers. ..... "Turkey has become very open, very fast." ..... From a single state-owned TV station, more than 300 stations have emerged. Eleven hundred radio channels crowd the airwaves. Every private school is now linked to the Internet, and the government is distributing 400,000 PCs to schoolchildren. ..... Turkish courts are now basing more of their own rulings on the corpus of judgments found in EU law books. ...... Under the present government, Turkey has opened its economy to a surprising degree. ...... Maybe globalization can help Turkey finish its transformation.Foreign direct investment has zoomed from $1 billion to $18 billion. GDP growth has averaged 7%—not quite in China's league, but close. .... Ford has invested hundreds of millions in auto plants in Turkey—and ended up with one of its most productive facilities anywhere. .... Toyota, Honda, Electrolux—multinationals are flocking to the country to benefit from workers that cost $500 a month, universities that churn out engineers, and managers who grasp the concept of quality.
Merkel Calls for Stronger U.S.-EU Ties After a rocky start, the German Chancellor has achieved international respect on the back of a solid domestic economic rebound. ...... problems ranging from trade barriers and economic imbalances to energy and climate change. ..... a call for Europe to strengthen its historic "transatlantic" relationship with the U.S. This is perhaps indicative of her growing concern over Russia's growing clout. Moscow has taken to using its oil and gas riches as a tool to punish wayward neighbors and exert greater influence over policymaking in Western Europe. ....... Merkel began by identifying what she said have been the three seminal global events of the last two decades: the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent reintegration of the Eastern bloc countries into the West; the technology boom, exemplified by the global Internet explosion; and the rise of China and India from "static, controlled economies to active participants on the global stage." She urged that their economic power be matched by participation in global policymaking. ....... Merkel's prescription for Europe includes continuing integration, such as an additional 25% reduction in the cost of internal trade within the bloc over the next decade. ...... reinvigorate the process of enacting a new European constitution. ..... the need to mitigate capital market risks with adequate protections. A particular source of concern is hedge funds, which the Chancellor called a "headache" in the struggle to balance risk and equity. ...... Western Europe's dependence on Russian energy supplies.
BT Buys Indian Internet Firm i2i
A 'Gas OPEC'? Mostly a Pipe Dream
Energy: Changing Europe's Power Structure
Surprise: Oil Woes In Iran
EU Tries to Fix Migrant Worker Rules
What Comes After Putin?
Chavez Vexes Venezuela's Investors
Urban Regeneration Plans for Lebanon
The Chinese Discover Central Europe
Vietnam's Growing Role in Outsourcing
Eastern Europe's Software Solution
Continental's Outsourcing Eye-Opener
The Future of Outsourcing
Tipsheet: Outsourcing with Confidence
Best Global Brands
The Top 100 Brands
The Web's Most Viral Ads
Online Extra: Slide Show: Top 100 Global Brands

Is Dell Too Big For Michael Dell? BusinessWeek "I think you're going to see a more streamlined organization, with a much clearer strategy." .... Dell doesn't have the innovation DNA of an Apple or even an HP ..... According to a Jan. 30 study done by Goldman Sachs (GS), Dell is losing share in business spending for PCs. (Hewlett-Packard is also losing share of spending, while Lenovo (LNVGY) and Apple are gaining.) .... "I'm not hiring a COO or a CEO," Dell says. "I'm going to be the CEO for the next several years." He adds: "We're going to fix this business."
Michael Dell In Charge, "Period" Kevin is a great friend of mine, and he did a fantastic job for the company. But that's done ..... "Having a clear, unified strategy and focus and organization is what the company needs. ..... I'm a decisive guy, and we're moving fast. .... Dell's core strengths historically will be its core strengths in the future.
BusinessWeek.com, 11/9/06, "Dell Stands By His Man"
Google's Brand New Appeal More than ever, it's got the entire advertising world in its sights. And this year, Google will come out with guns blazing. ..... now accounts for about a quarter of all online advertising ...... many advertisers are starting to use search ads for branding, like more traditional ads. .... company aims to offer a "complete sales and marketing platform for all advertisers ..... Volvo, Procter & Gamble (PG), and OfficeMax (OMX) all placed image and video ads on Google's networks.

PC

The PC market is not as sexy as it used to be, both on the hardware and the software end. A Windows release does not carry the same excitement. Many of the Office products can be had for free online these days. If there is no large scale migration yet, the online products still need polishing up, and businesses are reluctant to let go. And there is sheer inertia. And like a Microsoft top dog said recently, you can't do video editing online. There are things that will stay on the PC, no matter how fast your internet connection. I doubt that claim will hold at substantially higher speeds though.

The hardware has also been sluggish. It has become a mature industry. Dell is not the razmatazz name it used to be.

There is only so much innovation and inundation possible within a set paradigm. Like Larry Ellison once said, the software industry will morph into something akin to what the utility companies are like today.

It is not exactly a dud, to be sure. Things are still happening. We will still see mini-waves, like the iPod wave. You tweak and twan and create a lifestyle.

And there is this vast ocean of humanity to speak of that is still not connected, that huge no-PC world to be harnessed. It will be innovation enough to find ways to get them into the casting net, not all of it technological.

So what is the next big thing? It is not Windows, for sure. I mean, with Windows, they keep adding bells and whistles that can be had online for free. They play a little with the graphics.

Google's innovations are not of the PC era. Google is a whole new cloud.



I keep thinking, since Google can not do everything, it needs to license out its ad mechanism so other startups can use the same model to provide other services to consumers, like free PCs and free wireless broadband and stuff.

On The Web

A New Breed in the Computer Biz BusinessWeek
Hardware Pioneers: The Next Generation These next-generation computers are faster, less expensive, and more energy-efficient.
Blade Servers: Beyond the Cutting Edge
A Peek at Tomorrow's Coolest Tech
Solving the Superspeed Dilemma
Predictions for PC Makers hardware vendors are trying to offset the negative impact on profits by offering services, servers, and storage that carry wider margins .... all the PC vendors are competing on price, due to the highly commoditized nature of the mature PC industry. .... computer makers are trying to get the PC to be like your TV -- just plug it in and go.

Predictions for PC Makers
Lenovo Sees Itself as Top PC Maker in Five Years PC Magazine ... Top Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group will start to sell its namesake personal computers outside China in the first quarter of next year as part of its long-term plan to build the world's leading PC brand ..... its $1.25 billion acquisition of International Business Machines Corp.'s PC unit. ..... The acquisition has made it the third-biggest global PC vendor behind Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. ..... The company spends 1.5 percent of its revenue on research, about twice the standard rate for the industry. It has plans to set up research centers in North Carolina and Beijing. ...... Emerging markets in India, China, and Brazil will be major growth areas. ..... Cross-borders mergers are notoriously difficult to carry out. The Lenovo-IBM deal is particularly challenging because the drastic difference between East and West cultures. ...... During early meetings, Western managers were very engaged in the discussion while people from China were generally quiet. When they speak, they tend to ponder, sometimes resulting in five-second pauses. .... "We are teaching our Western colleagues to be comfortable with silence in a conversation and Chinese colleagues to be 'rude"
Dell: Two Top PC Makers Will Die This Year Dell grew more than 40 percent in the fourth quarter, year-on-year, compared with an average of only 9.2 percent for the entire industry.
HP back on top of PC market | CNET News.com January 14, 2004 .... Hewlett-Packard overtook Dell to become the world's largest PC maker in the fourth quarter in a market that is both growing and growing more difficult. ..... In 2000, 140.2 million PCs left factories and accounted for an estimated $226 billion in value ...... In 2003, a record 152.6 million PCs were shipped ...... Dell doesn't sell many PCs through retail stores and typically gives up some ground to competitors during the last three months of the year as a result. ..... HP and Dell have traded off the lead a number of times since HP completed its merger with Compaq in spring 2002. ..... eMachines jumped into the top five manufacturers in the United States, according to Kay, passing both Gateway and Apple Computer ..... Shipments in Japan slowed to single digits after the passage of a recycling law.
Dell expands lead in still-growing PC market | CNET News.com
Slashdot | HP Regains Throne as Top PC Maker
PC World - Software, Hardware, Electronics & Gadgets Reviews ...
Apple enters top 5 US PC makers - Mac - Macworld UK
PC Pro: News: The UK's top PC makers revealed - and much more
HP passes Dell as top PC maker - Systems & Components - www.crn.com.au

In The News

Dell wrestles with its accounting MarketWatch
Dell to hike India investments Daily News & Analysis
HP, Dell earnings are spoiled by scandal BusinessWeek
Hewlett-Packard names Wachovia CEO to board, fills void after spy ... Canada.com
Smoke and Mirrors at Hewlett-Packard: Fool by Numbers MSNBC
Ahead of the Bell: Hewlett-Packard Down BusinessWeek
Apple Shares Soar on Sales Outlook BusinessWeek
Apple’s new 13″ MacBook is a good buy, but in specific cases ZDNet
Intel Raises Vietnam's High-Tech Profile FOX News
Intel Inside Out Motley Fool
Notebook News: Systemax Releases Intel Core2 Duo Processor ... MobileTechReview.com
Cisco Steals a March TheStreet.com
Chambers Becomes Cisco Chairman CRN
Cisco separates offices of CEO and president Reuters
Microsoft the enemy to Red Hat and Linux community iTWire
Readers blast Ballmer for his "Linux users owe Microsoft" ... Computerworld
Yahoo Answers 120 million times: ‘Struggling’? ZDNet
IBM and DOE to Collaborate on Supercomputer Research Technocrat.net
IBM Invests $100 Million in Collaborative Innovation Ideas SYS-CON Media
Oracle's packaged software lacking, report says SearchOracle.com
Spread the word on Fusion, Oracle users urged ComputerWeekly.com
SAP ready to fight Oracle in 'hot' markets Search SAP
Oracle — the new EMC kid on the block Enterprise Networks & Servers
Fusion lost on many Oracle users IT Week
Securent Could Be a Fine Addition for Oracle InternetNews.com
Wipro Infotech wins outsourcing contract from Dena Bank Hindu
Wipro on track for 7% revenue boost Gulf News
Wipro Makes It To FinTech Top 25 EFYTimes
Walking in a Walmart Wonderland Washington College Elm
Circuit City to sell $100 Compaq laptop on Black Friday engadget If you agree to get a Vonage subscription for a year and can handle the assorted rebates, then this lappy is yours for a Benjamin. ..... a Celeron M 420 CPU, 15-inch screen, DVD and CD burner, 512MB RAM and a 60GB hard drive. .... but we'll wait until the price drops that low organically, sans rebates and subscription plans, thanks.
Sun Microsystems open up java to the world. Kenya London News

Microsoft ushers in the dawn of Vista CNet News.com he said Office can be better adapted for Internet-connected mobile devices. And the next version of Windows should aid software developers in creating applications that run on machines with several processing "cores" on a chip. ..... The next Windows should also include features for "state separation," where individual applications are separated in terms of execution and settings ...... installing applications from a CD-ROM is a practice that should be replaced by Web-delivered software. .... "The biggest thing that Vista can do is provide a safe environment for interaction on the Web" ....... people will rely on their PC to edit media files and then post them onto the Web. ...... "What the PC is good at, the Web doesn't have as its core strength, such as really fast UI (user interface) regardless of the connection speed and reliability"
Web 2.0: Looking out for No. 1
Google accidentally sends out e-mail worm
Microsoft's Ozzie: Vista, Office adjusting to Web
AOL says portals are passe a provider of real-time information to the financial services industry ..... AOL was interested in acquiring YouTube ..... AOL's decision to get out of the Internet access business ....... "On-demand video over IP (Internet Protocol) will be the...biggest form of (video) viewing in single digit years"
Ning brings social networking to the masses we give you your own video site like YouTube, or social-networking site like MySpace ..... the site is fully programmable by developers
DirecTV service recommends personalized programming
Mozilla fixes 'critical' flaws
Wal-Mart kicks off holiday season with $398 laptop "We're probably going to see a $199 notebook on Black Friday"
Sub-$30 video cell phones on the way, says TI In the future, it will be a whole lot easier to post videos to YouTube from places like Ghana...... sub-$20 phones will come out in the relatively near future ..... In Mali, radio stations have set up e-mail services that can rapidly send messages between villages and news agencies. ..... 400 million of the billion-plus people in China are current cell phone owners ...... "In many cases, it (a cheap cell phone) will be the first time they connect to the network."
Sundance puts cell phones in the spotlight
200 pages of Diebold machine vulnerabilities Techdirt
The top 100 tech innovations of 2006 Popular Science
Using tech to fight terror BusinessWeek
Visual search for better online shopping Technology Review Each image is broken down into 10,000 numbers that represent more than 30 features of the item--for example, the full spectrum of colors that appear in a handbag, its lumps and curves, and the glossiness of its exterior.
China's satellite navigation plans threaten Galileo New Scientist a 35-satellite constellation .... it would be available free to all Chinese citizens and to other countries whose governments strike a deal to use the signal in satellite navigation devices. ..... Galileo, the US-run Global Positioning System, and Beidou ...... China's behaviour towards Europe is not so different to how Europe behaved with us when GPS was the only game in town a decade ago
Cell phones still mostly for talking SiliconValley.com Verizon is in talks with YouTube to bring user-submitted videos from the Web service to Verizon's wireless customers ...... But do people want to watch? ...... to make up for declining revenue from simple voice services ..... Consumers tend to want to watch video on the biggest screen possible. But it's hard to meet that expectation when, at the same time, consumers have been demanding smaller and lighter handsets.

Memo To Bill Gates

A memo from Gates has been leaked where he says Microsoft is "at risk" from Google. I figured I would respond, so here is me composing a memo to that other Bill from the 1990s.

Mr. Software Architect.

Part of your problem is simply ageing. There was IBM, and then Microsoft came along, and Microsoft eclipsed IBM itself in market capitalization. You might be IBM, and Google might be Microsoft. Empires come and go. So at some level, just make peace.

I am a huge fan of your foundation though. I wish you were 10 times richer, I am so impressed with your work for health care in the poor countries. And of course you are a terribly smart, creative guy. I am easily a fan.



At some point I think a company like Microsoft should just plough in all that extra cash into becoming a venture capitalist firm, or at least growing a wing in that direction, I think. It is young scientists and the entrepreneurs who come up with the cuttinge edge ideas, or at least in most cases.

I think your problem is that you thought you woke up to the internet in 1995, and you did not. Then you thought you did it in 2000, and you did not. Now you think you are doing it in 2005, and you are not. For good or ill, Microsoft remains a Windows company. Microsft never really became a dot com.

But if Microsoft were to reinvent itself, what might it do? Here are some suggestions I offer.

• You don't have to ditch Windows outright, but shift focus to the online world. That is the present and the future. Down the road, Windows either disappears, or becomes invisible.
  
• Could you take word processing online, and could you make it ad-based? Do you even want to?
  
• Could you take the lead on becoming a digital publisher? License Google's ad program if you have to, if you can't replicate it. But noone is taking publishing online. Maybe you can take the lead. All books - textbooks, fiction, non-fiction - should go online and be free, as in ad-based. Could you take the lead on that one? You are the leader in word processing offline. Could you go online?
  
• You have had some interesting thoughts on speech recognition technology in the past. What is the progress there? Keep working there. Noone seems to be competing with you there. Down the line people should be able to talk to their computer in any language.
  
• Put as much work into your browser as you have been putting into your Windows and Office. Because W and O are passe. The browser will go far.
  
• You have done good with non-PC devices. Maybe you should work on the software for "free" cellphones that will work in a citywide soup of wireless broadband.
  
• The internet and wireless broadband are not one and the same thing, just like webpages and blogs are not one and the same. Don't get too hung up on the internet. Think wireless broadband.
  
• Expand your facilities in India. It's not just about cheap, smart engineers. India is going to be a huge market on its own.
  
• Google itself has said there is room for more than one player in the search market. Search is the center piece of the Google magic. Get in the action. Keep working at it.
  
• See if you can imitate Google. They like to offer web services that are online and ad-based. If those two parameters are too narrow for you, you are not competing with Google. Wean yourself away from the habit of asking people for money directly.
  

More later.

December 7: Microsoft To Invest $1.7 Billion In India (BusinessWeek)

Google: Poised To Be The Number One Software Company In The World

I am a die-hard fan of Google, have been since its inception. It keeps lifting you up. The most recent two lift-ups for me were, well three: (1) Gmail, (2) Google Scholar, and (3) Google Print and the news about Google digitizing some major libraries.

Google is like Wal-Mart; you walk into a Wal-Mart and you have seen their entire business model.

The idea behind Google print is monumental. It is going to transform the web. The web otherwise has been whistling along like a near empty vessel.

But Google has barely scratched the Google surface.

Let's extend the Google Print vision such that authors the world over, new and accomplished, could entirely skip the publishing industry. You are an author. You sign up and open an account with Google Print for free. You publish what and when you want to publish. All money you make is entirely through Google text-ad-click-throughs. Entire new books in all categories. There is no print version. And the complete text is online for readers for "free," kind of like shows on TV. The "price" on "books" will drop astronomically: they will be gone! No paper. No publishing company. No traditional marketing. This is nothing less than transforming the whole idea of what a book is.

Readers will also have the option to open free accounts. So they can bookmark books. And place bookmarks inside books, or take notes.

Extend that to articles. And desktop word processing becomes irrelevant, especially when people will have the option to have search-engine-protected documents also, or documents with limited circulation. You decide which Google IDs may view it.

The internet is but a fancy telephone: it is a communication tool that makes geography and more irrelevant. Makes socio-economic schisms less of a hassle. Heck, it lets you communicate with dead people through their books. You communicate with people who will be born after you are gone.

The Google Print idea extends to audio and video. For that you are talking new, bold hardware infrastructure just round the corner. An internet computer that you can buy for less than $100 that you could change like underwear if you wanted to. The point being to crack open the 6 billion mass: the more the total number of web surfers, the more money Google makes. The only thing the machine does is it takes you online, preferably at super fast speeds. Memory is a total non-issue for text-audio-video due to nano.

Text-audio-video-photo. Photos get "downloaded" straight from your camera to your online storage where you do all the editing. And all content generates revenue the same way.

See?

At that point Google becomes the number one software company in the world and keeps the throne for a few decades. IBM was a hardware company, that is why Microsoft came along as sexier. But MSFT is a desktop company, it is no dot com. Whereas Google is the sexiest dot com there is. That is why it will take over the lead.

Google is a freaking revolution!