Free Wireless Broadband, Reenergized Microsoft

• Google begins limited test of Wi-Fi service Reuters ...... "....the company was considering building a U.S. broadband network capable of targeting specific advertising to users based on the location of their Wi-Fi..."
• Microsoft Corp. reorganizes to compete better with Google, Yahoo Canadian Business

I had been thinking municipality provided wireless broadband. But Google has trumped me on that one. It has come up with an even better idea. Google provided nationwide wireless broadband. All the user have to do is download a Google toolbar onto their laptops in return. If that were to materialize, Google would grow even more like it were a hot startup. Kudos.

Bill Gates complained during the whole anti-trust legal fiasco that instead of competing with him on products, his competitors were taking him to court. Now he does not have to say that no more. Google is competition. Big G should be happy.



I think he had the option in 1995 to take the lead when a school of thought emerged within Microsoft that company should move from being Windows-centric to being browser-centric. Gates missed that boat. It is said if you learn Newton's theory of gravity too well, that actually prevents you from coming to grips with Einstein's theory of gravity.

Microsoft now has taken a step in the right direction, but it is still hesitant. Software should be online, free and ad-based. That is the leap Google is making and Microsoft is not. That is why Microsoft is not Google.

Google's To Do List Keeps Growing

This New York Times article echoes my blog entry from months back. (Google: Poised To Be The Number One Software Company In The World) That whole IBM to Microsoft to Google succession chain. I think it is inevitable. Empires rise and fall, and that is okay, as long as the tide keeps rising for the average consumer boat.

"Google has already added free e-mail, mapping, news aggregation and digital-photo management to its offerings, bringing it into competition in each case with two or more rivals."

Just look at some of the items on their laundry list:

1. Instant messaging.
2. Services for mobile phone users.
3. Online payment.
4. Internet based phone system.
5. Browser.
6. Software to compete with Microsoft Office.
   

That last one caught my attention. I hope they do not make the mistake of competing with Microsoft in that segment offline. If they do, they will be beat. They should offer an "Office" that is totally online and builds on their, well, Blogger. If they take it online, they win. Message: get away from Windows, stay away from Windows.

Google has the vision, the culture and the resources to tackle absolutely any software challenge on the horizon. They need to stick to the online space, though. They come down to the operating system level, and they are game. Why stoop down when you don't have to?

But first integrate MathML into Blogger. I should be able to do 2+2=4 using a Google online calculator and publish the entire thing at Blogger, the way I can add links and photos right now. And also more complicated stuff like sine, cosine and calculus stuff. Take the calculations and publishing part out of my equation, take them to your equation.



And, yes, their "Office" will also have to be ad supported. Don't start selling software. That would be a big mistake.

Stay within the online and ad supported parameters, and there is no stopping Google.

Every company worth its salt should be able to state its mission statement in one simple sentence. For Google it is "to organize the world's information." Everything on its agenda, real and speculated, fits into that.

China, India And The World

I mean I was born in India. This pertains to me. People who live on a dollar a day are people in my personal circle. I know quite a few of them: some of them have nicknames for me, from my homevillage.

BusinessWeek has come up with a fabulous story cluster around the big topics of the economic resurgence of the two Asian giants. But perspective has to be maintained. Look at the per capita income. The PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) for 2004 for China is $5,600. For India it is $3,100. Fro Nepal it is $1,500. I had to throw Nepal in because, well, I grew up in Nepal.

The same figure for the US is $40,100.

My point being it will be a while before India and China jump over to the $50,000 range.

But the GDP figures, adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity, are US $11.75 trillion, China $7.262 trillion and India $3.319 trillion. At that level the differences are less stark.

The 19th century was Britain's, the 20th was America's, this one is Asia's. Cisco's Scheinman: "We came to India for the costs, we stayed for the quality, and we're now investing for the innovation."

Africa could compete. Both India and China are living testimonies to economic unions and free trade. A China that were 20 different countries would be less efficient. Africa could compete by becoming a single economic unit, a single market. Snuff out civil wars, introduces democracies, and work towards becoming a single market. The recipe is no rocket science.