Google Anti-trust Issues Over DoubleClick

I knew this would happen... you can't have one company take over the internet (or at least the ad part)... It's exactly the same crap Microsoft is facing with desktop applications..

I don't know if I welcome this or not however.

The added costs of the lawsuit will slow down products and features due to resources being diverted from what should be techincal innovation rather towards a lawsuit.

Regardless, the writing has been on the wall for a while for this..

I am still torn about this though..

When Google saw the breadth of there domain, they wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.

Google recognized that ad revenue carried the best monetization potential for their market presence and acted on it. It's not like MS, AT&T, Yahoo, and everybody else didn't have a shot at doing this long before Google became a powerhouse.

I can name exactly two companies who have been convicted on anti-trust issues during my lifetime. I remember being on project at Lucent when they were putting their plans together to reconsolidate the telco empire a few years back because the breakup time limits were expiring - and surprise surprise... lookie what's happening with that vertical these days.

I'm not terribly keen on Google controlling so much of the internet Ad stream myself, but they have a much more positive history than just about every other mega-company out there.

Ok I rekon only one guy in the world can save the internet from domination. Steve Jobs do a SE please.................

I rekon only one guy in the world can save the internet from domination

So everyone would use applesearch instead of Google? There will be always a few companies that dominate a market. So why make it apple instead of google. MSN could always pull its head out of the sand

There are enough companies with deep pockets that if they got there cheque books out can compete

don't get why Bill hasn't done a lot more to conquer the search space since he controls the foundation on which 'almost' everyone views the internets.

re:
"MSN could always pull its head out of the sand"

Now what I'm waiting for is when Google pulls out their OS, or starts backing in a significant way some alternative OS (ubuntu, goobuntu, gentoogle, ___?)

THAT will be an interesting day.

> don't get why Bill hasn't done a lot more to conquer the search space

He's tried, oh yes. The problem is that MS as an organisation doesn't "get" the WWW. They will consequently find it hard to get serious talent to join them. If you were a newly graduated potential search engineer, your wish list of potetnial employers probably looks like this

1) Google - by a long, long way
2 / 3) Ask / Yahoo. Order will vary on your attitude to working with a technically good but underused platform in a fairly open environment, versus a near Google clone that's a couple of years behind the curve and beaurocracy that will make you weep, but better pay / perks. Different aspects will attract different people
4) Insert start-up / minor engine of choice, according to your personal connections
5) MSN. It'll get you the experience you need to land a job further up the list...

I dont think MSn doesnt get WWW. Its like every company with many interests (look at ASK), MSN a division makes money and is profitable as a portal

Depends how much they want the fight or if they have worked out its too much trouble.

In attracting people cash talks and a solid plan helps convince people. Slowly but surely the MS OS is being chipped away at

Goog wants to control online advertising, tip to MSN work in reverse acquire companies/networks in affiliate marketing, then sort out the other parts

MS have the money to fight but arent, and they say they want to. Aside from hotmail MS is just toying with the idea of being an internet company with MSN

A few groups with truck loads of cash and we see no competition

they know that, they're looking beyond, to a services oriented architecture, both online and off - read what their chief software architect Ray Ozzie has to say about their direction. Actually read Nicholas Carr's take on it and then Ozzie's interview if you want:
Ozzie walks the line

I've just started putting more effort into using MSN's AdCenter but even if you ignore the comparative lack of volume, it's so far behind G/Y's products. I have a heard time seeing them catch up to G's momentum in this space. I want them to, but I haven't seen signs that they will.

TallTroll is right. MS just doesn't seem to "get" the Interwebs.

unless you sell high end real estate, yachts or manage hedge funds. Then they have a lot to say.

MS is the Old Bull, here's the story...

A young bull and an old bull are standing on top of a hill overlooking a herd of cows. The young bull looks at the old bull and yells "Hey! Let's run down the hill and screw a cow!" and the old bull looks him in the eye and says "Let's walk down the hill and screw ALL the cows!".

The moral of the story is MS isn't running down the hill, they are walking.

I've seen it MANY MANY times before as they blew away Digital Research as the dominant OS, wiped out Apple's GUI dominance with Windows, wiped out Lotus 123 with Excel, nuked Word Perfect with Word, kicked Netscapes ass with Internet Explorer and the list goes on and on. They were never the first, they were never the best, but eventually they took over.

They are walking down the hill with Live Search and AdCenter, Google is a cow.

BTW, I talked to the Live project lead at Chicago SES and he's a real sharp guy, real motivated and energetic, I expect progress.

What if MS walk down the hill, and discover that the young bull was vigorous enough to run AND screw all the cows?

In the markets they have competed in, money was enough to win, combined with a few sharp business practices. If they want to dominate the WWW in the same way, they will need access to some serious talent, which currently they don't. The kind of talent they need, you can't buy. Not ever, not for any amount.

For a start, many of the brightest and best are already as rich as they will ever need to be from share options etc (even a few Yahoo types, I guess), which makes economic incentives tricky - even MS can't afford a stable of programmers on $20m / year, each. The incentives need to be intellectual, not economic.

And there's the problem. MS isn't an intellectual company. They see the problem in terms of "beating Google". For a start, it's going to be hard to hire away G employees to an organisation that defines itself as antithetical to the one where they currently work, and the ones you do get aren't the ones you need. They need to recast the problem as "building the best SE in the world" to acquire the talent, but then they won't fit with the rest of MSFT.

Tricky.

But who knows what's going on there

Wow, what a day it's been. I'll be following the news to see the developments.

I think this is a good buy for google, strategic and well thought out, thats why it scares people. When Google bought youtube everyone just thought "what a waste of money, there get sued for content and ultimately be beaten by big media companies". This howether was a good buy for google. Yahoo went through same buying phase so in all honesty I do not worry about google cornering the market and Steve Jobs doing a search I was joking about (although the graphics would be out of the world), I do think google have made a smart purchase without the baggage of youtube.