51–60 of 103 posts
I think we don't know the answer. 10 years ago few would imagine Microsoft not being a tech leader. 30 years ago few would image that PCs would replace IBM mainframes for most of the computing tasks. 150 years ago few imaged computing machines exists. There are always something out of left field that knock dinosaurs on the head and flip them over. Unfortunately we never know what that will be until it hit the dinosau…
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True, that would really hurt them. I can't even immediately come up with any reason why they couldn't do that, ad blockers are a very legit piece of software after all. Given how much sense this makes, what's been stopping MS from doing it so far?
Remember the anti-trust party that was started when Microsoft started giving away a free browser in competition with Netscape? That would be nothing compared to the storm that would emerge if Microsoft tried to directly attack AdWords from its still-a-convicted-monopolist position with an action like that.
To become so bureaucratic that all the smart people leave.
I made a bet with a friend 5 years ago that by 2015, Google will be a public utility. (This is also the worst thing that could happen to Google)
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True, that would really hurt them. I can't even immediately come up with any reason why they couldn't do that, ad blockers are a very legit piece of software after all. Given how much sense this makes, what's been stopping MS from doing it so far?
Ad blockers create an unlicensed derivative work of the copyrighted works that are received, and they could likely be sued for that.
I've pondered that very question off and on for several years. I don't know what the "worst" thing would be but some places where I think there are clouds (pun intentionality uncertain) on their horizon - in no particular order: 1) Culture fail: leading to dithering and waste that swamps the ship. Until a recent few years, Google hired and operated like Larry and Sergey's late night bull session dream: hiring "people…
Nowadays, however, Google has a more immediate problem: Bing.
What would happen if Microsoft starts doing search deals with ISPs, portals, & mobile companies? Why would any company integrate Google search if Microsoft was willing to pay them to use Bing? Isn't this already happening with the Microsoft-Facebook and Microsoft-Yahoo deals?
A scandal related to personal data large enough to spook your average consumer. We're talking serious stuff, like records being sold to criminals or given to the government without a warrant. The only thing that could cause a user to get over the large cost of migration is a massive breach of trust. It doesn't even have to be related to search. A scandal involving Gmail or Google Voice would have a large impact on se…