The seeds for battle between the empires actually began before Google even thought about creating a Death Star. In the mid-1990s, a rebel alliance called Netscape launched what appeared to be potentially the most important computer innovation since the debut of the graphical interface. The rebels' product allowed people from all over the world to connect to information and data regardless of where they were located, and regardless of what computer operating system they ran. When it became clear that this band of rebels and their "Internet" were not a passing fad, Bill Gates disbanded the Imperial Senate and maneuvered the Death Star to Netscape's home planet. Microsoft charged up its Death Star and fired by including a free Internet browser inside its operating system, thereby ensuring that it would be included on virtually every personal computer sold. The Netscape home world collapsed quickly, and fear kept the regional systems in line.
But, the more Microsoft tightened its grip, the more star systems slipped through its fingers. As the Internet grew and bandwidth got faster and cheaper, the Internet emerged not only as a way to read jokes and download pictures, but also as a legitimate way to do business. Soon, the problem was not what the Internet could do, but what rather finding what you needed. And so, arrives Google. The emperor did not feel the disturbance in the force quickly enough and by the time Microsoft reacted, Google had constructed its own Death Star.
Like many conflicts, no one is really sure exactly how this one got started. Many would point to the release of Internet Explorer 7. When first released, the free browser with dominating market share had the now ubiquitous search box directly embedded in the browser interface, and that search box came set to search Microsoft's search engine. This set off alarm bells at Google like Russia putting missiles in Cuba set off alarm bells in America. So, the cold war began.
While originally confined to the field of search engines, today the battle rages on many fronts. Both companies compete on search with Microsoft reportedly spending millions or even billions of dollars to out maneuver Google in the search result game. Meanwhile, Google now offers free applications that perform the same functions as Microsoft's cash cow MS Office. Both companies offer free email, and free picture utilities with free storage for those photos to be shared with others. Both companies are competing fiercely in the business space as well. Google Sites provides many of the functions of Microsoft Sharepoint. Microsoft responded to the launch of Google Sites by announcing that it would launch a hosted version of Sharepoint. Microsoft's hard push into the online application and services world has now become a serious company focus largely branded through Microsoft's Live platform.
