The Google-Netscape meme: Part III
And here we are, at the end of our dramatic mini-series in which we look at the spread of the Google-Netscape meme. In Part I, we saw how rumours of an IPO of the search engine prompted The Economist to ask "How good is Google?" We moved on then to the New York Times in Part II with the "Microsoft and Google: Partners or Rivals?" story. As we saw, the two venerable publications drew attention on several occasions to the fate of Netscape, that browser which once flew so high and then crashed so mightily, in not very oblique references to what might be in store for the people's search engine. Why raise the Netscape flag? Each publication pointed out that any move to the market by Google would force Microsoft to declare its hand and that might have all kinds of consequences. This brings us nicely to the final part of this saga, but before we move on, one more thing: both stories were datelined San Francisco.
Co-incidentally, that's where David Galbraith has chosen to reside, trading the rain of the Scotland for the fog of the Bay Area. He's an especially brilliant fellow, numbering among his achievements "former architect at Foster and partners, co founder: Moreover, co founder: Origins.net, co author RSS 1.0." He also happens to write one of the best blogs around. In "Why Microsoft would be interested in Google", he joins all the dots when he notes that:
"Google owns the command line to the Internet and Microsoft cannot afford to concede that to them. That is why they may indeed have explored buying Google. Even if the reports of this are not true, as is probably the case, the rumor itself signals a warning shot that Google are on Microsoft's turf and so perhaps lowers the price that they could buy them for post IPO."
Redmond had to respond "quickly to the threat posed by Netscape" Galbraith reminds us because the desktop is Microsoft territory and nobody can mess with that or anything that connects it to the net. Galbraith's conclusion? "Google, who done everything right so far will do everything it can to avoid becoming a Netscape to Microsoft and an Altavista to Yahoo."
Google and Netscape? Google as Netscape? Googlescape? Googlenet? It's mutating quickly, and this is just the beginning.
