When Google unveiled Chromebooks at the Google I/O developer conference earlier in the month, the presenters logged into the Chrome OS machines using one of Microsoft’s Senior Director’s names: “Tom Rizzo”.
This subtlety didn’t go unnoticed by the man in charge of Microsoft’s online services business. Network world had a chat with the man after he was briefed on the demo, “Me logging into a Chromebook will never be a reality” he said, calling the Microsoft vs. Google spat “a little fun rivalry”.
He also disputed Google’s claims that three quarters of business users will swap their Windows based notebooks for Chromebooks, and the cloud-based tools provided by Google.
“Chromebooks don’t change the game at all from a productivity standpoint. Excel is just a million years ahead of what Google Docs provides.”
He then went on to state that Microsoft had stole the show again yesterday with the announcement from CEO Steve Ballmer that Windows 8 will launch next year and power “slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors”.
So it seems that there is a bit of a rivalry brewing between Microsoft and Google, and with Google announcing that a desktop version of the Chromebook will be released – should Microsoft be looking over their shoulder, or are Google out of their depth playing with one of the big boys in the computer world?