FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
March 6, 2007
Google Book Search Courts Controversy Again
In 1995 Bill Gates publicly remarked that Microsoft had been caught napping at the rise of the Internet. Over the next few years the company frantically played catch up -- bundling its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system, and snapping up popular web applications like Hotmail and so on.
Until about a few years ago Microsoft seemed to have made up for lost time but more recently Google seems to be doing better. It dominates the search market. Other moves by Google to further cement its place on the Internet have put it in direct competition with Microsoft -- it now offers free software such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets. It’s a battle that can only heighten in the years to come.
Now, Microsoft has decided to hit Google where it hurts the most. Google's controversial Book Search project has attracted a lot of criticism since it was first announced in December 2004. Under this project Google is in the process of scanning thousands of books from university libraries in order to create a searchable index. The Association of American Publishers contends that this violates the concept of fair use. Google has a clear business model -- it benefits by placing targeted ads next to the pages displayed. And like the search engine giant does with YouTube, it pulls books off this web library after receiving specific complaints from publishers.
Microsoft has chosen to throw in its lot behind the Association of American publishers. It's offering, Live Book Search, only displays books that are past their copyright protected period or that publishers expressly authorized. Live Books Search is a rather bland offering compared to Google's Book Search simply because its collection lacks the depth that Google's has.
Microsoft has chosen the right time to attack Google, which has faced a lot of heat in recent weeks for allowing users to upload copyrighted content on YouTube. Viacom's decision to align itself with Joost has the potential to cause a major headache for Google.
In the case of its Book Search, if the courts rule against Google, it could lose this battle and be forced to take permission on a per book basis for individual publishers. If this happens, the publishing industry may well decide to go with Microsoft and refuse to deal with Google. Legal experts are divided and say that both sides have strong arguments.
Microsoft's attack is mere posturing before the courts take a final stand on the issue. It will be interesting to see which side wins this one.
Posted by Samar Srivastava at March 6, 2007 6:36 PM | Category: internet + web |
2 Comments
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microsoft is just acting holier-than-thou when it suits them...as usual ; )
Microsoft’s core business is desktop software. It has to first FOLLOW Yahoo and Google and build a very similar “Ads On Free Content” Model.
But instead of doing business they are playing politics. Microsoft's general consul is arguing that Google is profiting from copyrighted material. First, if you think about it the entire Internet is copyrighted! In fact almost every website you go to has a little copyright notice. Does that mean they don’t want the search engine to look at its content?
Please!
That's a flawed strategy.
As for the argument that peoples copyrighted material is being used let me remind you of something: if you put it on the web people will see it! So don’t blame Google, in fact Google is helping to promote the work of these people, everyone knows that the real money in the publishing business is in actually PRINTING books! If you write the book then Google will promote your excerpt!
Once Microsoft’s Web Business Models are perfect (at least not less than Yahoo and Google) then it needs to strategically integrate it with the desktop applications while reducing their PRICE. Right now Microsoft needs a unique Twin Core of Desktop Application and Web Business Models, including of course Ads On Free Content, Web Services and etc…
parsa@invesloan.com