Microsoft challenges Google

According to Steve Ballmer CEO of Microsoft Google will be targeted over the next 12 month as Microsoft's chief competition in the search engine market field. Google has become a winner, its pockets filled with lots of cash ready to take on Microsoft.

Microsoft's fear is that Google will attempt to provide Microsoft Office services over the web. That move would be a real killer to Microsoft's crown jewel. Microsoft appears to consider Google its only real threat, and vice versa. If the standard is product excellence, Google seems to be the clear winner in the biggest category, its share of searches has been rising, to 52% in America as of June.

Google and Microsoft are engaged in a major battle over Internet users. Each has unveiled a series of features designed to keep users loyal and grab a bigger share of the lucrative search-engine market.

Microsoft's efforts (new services) can be seen in their beta version at http://sandbox.msn.com/. MSN Search is already number three in the market, according to Sullivan, so the company is building from a solid user base

Microsoft's second prong of attack against Google is the introduction of the paid-search component of AdCenter in direct competition with Googol's adwords. Microsoft is looking to addressing rich targeting capabilities, business intelligence reporting, and a simple do it your self tool based web interface directed at the small business owner. The paid-search solution in AdCenter will eventually give advertisers a self-service platform to plan, execute, and adjust their online campaigns, according to Microsoft.