What's next for Google

Technology Review (9 pages) 1/05 What's next for Google by Charles H. Ferguson
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/01/issue/ferguson0105.asp?p=1

For Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, 2004 was a very good year. His firm led the search industry, the fastest-growing major sector in technology; it went public, raising $1.67 billion; its stock price soared; and its revenues more than doubled, to $3 billion. But as the search market ripens into something worthy of Microsoft’s attention, those familiar with the software business have been wondering whether Google, apparently triumphant, is in fact headed off the cliff.

SearchBlog 12/14/04 Ferguson on Google: Platform? Yes. Single Platform? No.
http://battellemedia.com/archives/001129.php
TechDirt 12/14/04 The Battle To Own The Internet
http://techdirt.com/articles/20041214/1837206_F.shtml
Geeking with Greg 12/14/04 Google's war with Microsoft
http://glinden.blogspot.com/2004/12/googles-war-with-microsoft.html
SiliconBeat 12/14/04 Who will own the search platform?
http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2004/12/14/who_will_own_the_search_platform.html

The January issue of Technology Review has published a lengthy and provocative write-up on Google vs. Microsoft by Charles Ferguson, the MIT PhD who founded Vermeer Technologies and then sold it to Microsoft. Ferguson argues that the battle between Microsoft and Google is possibly a winner-takes-all contest that will be won by whichever company builds the dominant search architecture -- the platform on which applications will be built by vendors and users. This will be especially critical as the search industry moves beyond the web into a wide array of new computing platforms, including a "sea of new consumer devices,'' he asserts.

Scobleizer 12/15/04 MIT Tech Review looks at Google and Microsoft
http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/12/15.html#a8897