The Coming Search Wars, from the NYTimes says Get ready for Microsoft vs. Silicon Valley, Round 2.
The last time around, in the mid-1990’s, Netscape Communications, another brash, high-tech start-up from the Bay Area, commercialized the Web browser, touching off the dot-com gold rush. The company told anyone who would listen that its newfangled software program would reduce Microsoft’s flagship Windows operating system to a “slightly buggy set of device drivers.”
Today, nearly everyone in Silicon Valley, from venture capitalists and chip engineers to real estate agents and restaurateurs, has begun to ask: Will Google become the next Netscape?
Gary has some interesting points over at ResourceShelf.com worth noting.
Ominous feelings…
The piece in New York Times is very informative. Some of the points are a bit concerning when taken into account along with the OpenWorldCat pilot project that OCLC and Google are carrying out.
Strange things are afoot.