Microsoft Sues Google Over Competition

Microsoft does not like competition. It either assimilates it or crushes it. But with Google, it may have found its match. A key player in Microsoft’s search operation apparently defected to Google. Microsoft is suing. Dr Kai-Fu Lee was corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Services Division. Google wants him to head its China operation.

The News.com article has some interesting items from the law suit. It states that Dr Kai-Fu Lee had been “responsible for overall development of the MSN Internet search application.” and had been involved in Microsoft’s China strategy.

The general reaction to Microsoft’s search offering has been mixed. Some people think it is good for Google to have competition. On country level search (specifically Ireland) , it does not seem to move much beyond the simplistic country IP/country code TLD (ccTLD) grouping of websites. In this respect it seems that Microsoft, like Google cannot identify websites from specific countries hosted outside that country’s IPs/ccTLDs - a problem that WhoisIreland.com has solved.

Ultimately this law suit may not be about the the search business. It may really be about China as a future market for Microsoft. Like all great Empires, Microsoft needs to continue expanding. China may be crucial to the survival of Microsoft. However Google also needs to keep expanding.

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Written by John McCormac on July 22nd, 2005 with comments disabled.
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