So Google’s Launching a Spreadsheet
One of the questions that people still ask about the Microsoft trial is who Microsoft hurt. In Digital Phoenix, I explained that the real harm in Microsoft’s actions was that it delayed and deterred the development of new software.
I described the “real” reason that Microsoft feared Netscape was that Navigator promised to create a net-centered route between people and their microchips. Microsoft already owned the office-centered route, and feared that an alternate route would not only erode its power, but could threaten its supremacy of the office desktop.
After all, Microsoft’s success at office applications meant that anyone interested in designing a word processor or a spreadsheet would have to work on something other than Windows. But where to work? Navigator, particularly in conjunction with Java, presented a possible answer. So Microsoft squelched it.
Now, more than a decade later, it appears that Google’s initiative coupled with the antitrust enforcers’ increased scrutiny, is finally exploring the potential of an office-centered front end to that net-centered route. Will it work? It’s too early to say. But for those of us paying attention, we can only wonder: Why couldn’t we have tried it ten years ago?
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