March 12, 2008

Yahoo! and Microsoft open new R&D Centers in Israel—even if Yahoo! still doesn't understand Israel

Yahoo! just opened a research office in Israel—it's first—in Haifa, Israel. The office is right near Google's first office in Israel; they opened a second office in Tel Aviv two years ago. Microsoft has had a major presence in nearby Ra'anana since 1989, and announced this week that they are opening an Israel Innovation Lab in Herzliyah Pituah, which will focus on applied research. It will be the only such Microsoft lab outside the U.S.

Aside from taking advantage of the rich field of R&D and internet professionals that Israel is known for, Yahoo! now has the chance to take advantage of a growing marketplace they've largely ignored. Microsoft invested more than $100 million over the past 20 years translating all its products to Hebrew—and it shows; nearly all Israeli companies host on IIS servers, write web sites in ASP and use Microsoft software exclusively. They partnered with popular Israeli brands, like Galgalatz, Israel's most popular radio station. Their search engine and MSN portal are among the most visited pages in Israel. Google may have arrived to the party a bit late, but they quickly made up for lost time. In less than two years, Google.co.il unseated local search engine Walla.co.il as the number one search engine used in Israel. Number three is Google.com.

Yahoo! has a lot to do to catch up. They still need to convert products to Hebrew, and still have ways to go in informing the Israeli public that they exist. While Google and MSN dynamically switch directions for Hebrew searches, Yahoo does not. And for a popular Hebrew search like ××©×š×× (Israel), no PPC ads appear in Yahoo while many appear in MSN and Google. Dr. Ronny Lempel, who will head the new Yahoo! office, said the engine had no plans to translate its home page.

While I applaud Microsoft and Yahoo! for taking advantage of the “fertile ground” in Israel for talented engineers and researchers, I think the strategy of giving back to the local environment is one that makes search leaders. Maybe that's why Microsoft boasted 12.4% Year over Year growth last month and Google garnered 50.3%, while Yahoo! gained nothing. If they don't start to change something—other than just new research centers—expect this trend to continue.

Posted by at 2:39 PM | Permalink

November 8, 2006

Eric Schmidt At Web 2.0 On YouTube & Other Issues

John Battelle spoke with Eric Schmidt at Web 2.0 yesterday. What have we got? YouTube's growth made it a necessary purchase. No, money's not set aside to cover YouTube legal claims. Yes, you can have your date if you want it, users. No, Google's not trying to take out Microsoft Office. Plus some more below.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt: We would never trap user data from ZDNet has coverage that has Schmidt saying:

Google bought YouTube because it was growing faster than Google Video, and video was a "fundamental data type" to Google.
Google's still figuring out ways to compensate content owners with video, a complex area.
Google would support exporting personal data (search history, email, etc) to other providers, if it can be authenticated.
Google's office products are "casual" and not aimed at Microsoft.

Google CEO denies rumor of YouTube legal reserve from Reuters quotes Schmidt as saying "not true" to a rumor that $500 million of the YouTube sales prices was set aside for legal claims.

@ Web 2.0: Day One Highlights: Ad 2.0; Google CEO; Skype Content from PaidContent covers Schmidt but also touches on IAC's Barry Diller saying in a separate interview that he doesn't expect Google will become a media monopoly or dominant player.

Web 2.0 Con: Liveblogging the "Conversation with Eric Schmidt" from Valleywag has a nice minute-by-minute rundown of the interview, for those that want more -- and covers that if Schmidt or one of the cofounders Larry Page or Sergey Brin don't agree on something, the cofounder wins. "I'm the one with the experience who's late. Left to their own devices they'd be early and right, but too early."

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 5:34 AM | Permalink

August 28, 2006

Google Apps for Your Domain Live

Google announced the official launch of Google Apps for Your Domain. Everyone is talking about how this is an enterprise solution because it allows companies use Google products, currently Gmail, Calendar, Page Creator and Talk on their own domain. You can expect many of Google's other products to be rolled into this service, including Google Analytics, Google Notebook, Google Spreadsheets and others.

Let's step back, on February 10th Google launched a beta program named Gmail for Domains, they initially got some universities to sign up and then some small business also signed up (from what I hear).

Do you think IBM, Oracle, Pitney Bowes or other Fortune 500 would switch over? Is it Google's hope that they would consider it? Google seems like they will be offering a premium version of this service, but they don't have one at this time. Would I sign up my company on this program? Honestly, I highly doubt it. Why? Privacy, configurability, security, expandability and something doesn't sit right with moving my email or calendaring systems over to a free service - I need to pay someone in order to have someone to be held accountable.

Want to discuss in our forums? Join our Search Engine Watch Forums thread named Google Apps for Your Domain.

Postscript From Danny: Information Week has a long story on the program here, and there's lots of coverage from elsewhere you'll find on Techmeme here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:01 AM | Permalink

June 5, 2006

Google Spreadsheets To Launch Shortly

Google is to release a new Google Spreadsheets product on Tuesday, allowing anyone with a web browser to create and interact with spreadsheet information.

The product will be a limited test release, which basically means first come, first served until Google shuts off the flow. Want it? Then watch Google Labs. Google Spreadsheets was planned to be posted there at 6am Pacific time Tuesday, when I talked with the company about the service earlier today.

Another crazy non-search direction for Google? Not so much, to me. People store a lot of useful information in spreadsheets. Giving everyone a free one does help encourage the spread of that information.

But wait a minute! Wasn't that Google purchase of Writely -- an online word processing tool -- what drove me over the edge earlier this year and prompted my 25 Things I Hate About Google story? Yeah. But it wasn't that Writely was non-search. Instead, that was more about Google doing so many things that some stuff didn't seem finished.

Businesswise, Google Spreadsheets it's a super smart move in the battle against Microsoft by hitting at a Microsoft strength, Microsoft Office. When Google partnered with Sun last October, many expected a big push to get OpenOffice out as a Microsoft Office rival. Perhaps that might come. Google even said it would put some resources behind it. But the real action to steal away Office users is likely to come through web apps, I'd say.

Google already has Writely, a light-weight word processor. Google Spreadsheets gives a second element to the office suite that's being built up. Sure, Office is a mature product that's going to be more suitable for robust work. But it's also costly and a pain to install, speaking for one who has had to do it many, many times.

I doubt I'd ever dump Excel. I love it too much. Word's a piggish program, but if I'm dealing with long documents, I know it will handle them. But the next time I bring up a computer for my wife or mother-in-law and their far less intensive needs, giving them a Writely or a Google Spreadsheets will be a strong alternative to tracking down a spare copy of Office, believe me.

Such a change will bring them and others from the Microsoft to the Google camp. Plus, it's not just the app that ties them in. The data is staying over with Google, as well. Sure, you can export it and move -- but many people won't bother. They'll be hooked in yet another way to the Big G.

Enough strategy. What's the spreadsheet do? First what it won't do -- charts. You want to graph? This isn't for you, not yet. Charts will come over time. Also, don't expect macros to work. Aside from that, you can:

Import and export from .xls and .csv files
Share and collaboratively edit with others
Have multiple sheets
Select and navigate in a way Google says will feel comfortable to most spreadsheet users
Use over 200 functions, including some said to be "fairly complex"

As I said, it's a limited test launch. When the open invite closes, the general public can no longer get in. That's expected to be the case for the next couple of months (and no news on when Writely will open back up, by the way -- as an alternative, you might try Zoho Writer). But those who are accepted into Google Spreadsheets will be able to invite others. After all, a key feature of this product is to be able to share information with others. You can't share unless your friends, families and coworkers aren't also in the program.

How about two tricky areas, privacy and backups. On the privacy front, Google said there will be a policy posted explaining what's protected when you save to a Google server. If it's sensitive and you're worried, then don't use the program -- or any similar program offered by a third party. Not worried? Still read the privacy policy when posted and get comfortable with it.

As for backups, I wrote before about how a few Gmail users were upset that they'd had data go missing with no hope of recovery. Google said it doesn't expect this will be an issue with Google Spreadsheets (and to be honest, it's a miniscule issue with Gmail). Still, if that data is important, DO NOT leave your only copy with Google. Make a local backup (and hey, backup your Flickr photos and your YouTube videos, while you are at it! Backup up everything you leave with a third party).

Some bits and pieces stuff. Like Writely, the core of Google Spreadsheets comes via an acquisition, that of 2Web Technologies, which made XL2Web. The site over there reflects nothing about Google's ownership, but that's likely to change shortly.

How about the official why do Google Spreadsheets?

"We feel strongly about people creating and sharing information on the web," said Jonathan Rochelle, product manager of Google Spreadsheet. "Google Spreadsheets will allow people to take an organizational tool they already use and make it much easier for them to share and make it accessible."

Rochelle said he was expecting people to use it for both personal reasons (sharing fantasy sports data) and business reasons. As for more on the why:

"We think that there's already a large need for this product. People are already emailing spreadsheets back and forth," he said. "Providing something where there is no download and they can access from any machine we think is a compelling reason to use this product."

Can't wait? As I said, watch Google Labs. Missed out, if it closes early? Num Sum is one alternative product you might try. gOffice, FlySuite and ThinkFree are some others (and Taking on the Office gorilla, online from ZDNet is a nice interview with ThinkFree). I mentioned Zoho Writer earlier, but Gary Price notes they have an entire office suite.

There's also Microsoft Office Live, currently free while in beta. Well, maybe it's a solution. Here's the comparison chart of the various flavors, but none of them overtly say if things like word processing or spreadsheets (core apps of Microsoft Office non-live) are included.

Got a favorite app that I missed? Want to comment on Google's plans? Please comment in our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, Google Spreadsheets Launches, Takes On Microsoft.

Postscript: Nathan's posted about what looks to be a live sign-up page now here, along with help info and the privacy policy.

Postscript 2: There's lots and lots of other commentary popping up out there now. If you want an easy at-a-glance view, try this link from Techmeme, as well as this and this.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:24 PM | Permalink

March 9, 2006

Google To Buy Writely, A Browser Based Word Processor? Om Malik has heard rumors that Google may be buying Writely, a company that can enable you to "write a document in a browser, much like you write on Microsoft Word." Postscript: Google just announced they bought them, more information here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:21 AM | Permalink

October 31, 2005

Google Working on Open Office, After All

Despite recent articles claiming that a Sun-Google hosted desktop productivity suite and common operating system, "is way off base," word comes today that Google plans to hire programmers to improve OpenOffice.org, the Sun developed Microsoft Office counterpart.

It sounds like a typical tentative first-step for Google. From the News.com article:

"We want to hire a couple of folks to help make OpenOffice better," DiBona said.

Google has shown an affinity for open-source software, which are programs developed in the open and available for free. Many of the company's programmers came of age in the open-source era, so advancing the open-source agenda comes naturally, DiBona said. But the company also has business reasons to justify its open-source embrace.

"We use a fair amount of open-source software at Google. We want to make sure that's a healthy community. And we want to make sure open source preserves competitiveness within the industry," he said.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 2:35 PM | Permalink

October 25, 2005

Talk of Sun-Google Hosted Productivity Suite: "Way off Base"

The eWeek article: Rumors of Sun-Google Hosted Desktop Suite Quashed, offers a look at the constant (the article users the word "rampant") specultation about a Sun-Google hosted desktop productivity suite and common operating system, "is way off base."

From the article: Insiders with knowledge of the joint plans to promote and enhance the OpenOffice.org desktop productivity suite say it is far more likely that Sun and Google will find ways to promote both OpenOffice.org and Google Toolbar, including having Toolbar included as part of OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, and even OpenSolaris and Sun's branded Solaris products...John Loiacono, executive vice president for software at Sun, has said that possible future collaboration projects under discussion with Google include work on OpenOffice. org, as well as cooperative arrangements in which each company will point its customers to the other's technology. "This is just Phase 1 of a multiphase approach," he told eWEEK.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:04 AM | Permalink

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