Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/technology/16goog.html?em&ex=1198299600&en=27451116f73e35b...
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A CEREBRAL computer-scientist-turned-executive, Eric E. Schmidt has spent much of his career competing uphill against Microsoft, quietly watching it outflank, outmaneuver or simply outgun most of its rivals.
At Sun Microsystems, where he was chief technology officer, Mr. Schmidt looked on as Scott G. McNealy, the company?s chairman, railed against Microsoft and its leaders, Steven A. Ballmer and Bill Gates, as ?Ballmer and Butthead.? During a four-year stint as chief executive of Novell, Mr. Schmidt routinely opined that it was folly for any Microsoft rival to ?moon the giant,? as he put it; all that would do, he argued, was incite Microsoft?s wrath.
Then, six years ago, Mr. Schmidt snared the C.E.O. spot at Google and today finds himself at the helm of one of computing?s most inventive and formidable players, the runaway leader in Internet search and online advertising. With its ample resources and eye for new markets, Google has begun offering online products that strike at the core of Microsoft?s financial might: popular computing tools like word processing applications and spreadsheets.
At Sun Microsystems, where he was chief technology officer, Mr. Schmidt looked on as Scott G. McNealy, the company?s chairman, railed against Microsoft and its leaders, Steven A. Ballmer and Bill Gates, as ?Ballmer and Butthead.? During a four-year stint as chief executive of Novell, Mr. Schmidt routinely opined that it was folly for any Microsoft rival to ?moon the giant,? as he put it; all that would do, he argued, was incite Microsoft?s wrath.
Then, six years ago, Mr. Schmidt snared the C.E.O. spot at Google and today finds himself at the helm of one of computing?s most inventive and formidable players, the runaway leader in Internet search and online advertising. With its ample resources and eye for new markets, Google has begun offering online products that strike at the core of Microsoft?s financial might: popular computing tools like word processing applications and spreadsheets.
