Google Aims the Laser Sight Straight at Microsoft - Windows in the Cross Hairs

It was bound to happen. Google unveils an OS to compete with Windows. I've always thought that Open Source was the Enterprise Software Giant Killer. It's like viral coding. The open source community provides the coding muscle and Google provides the marketing, sales, and professional services. If Microsoft didn't see this train coming ten miles away they were blinded by their OS monopoly. The PC makers must be crying with joy, finally a real alternative to being held hostage to overpriced enterprise software. Microsoft has become too diverse I think to maintain dominance in their multitude of markets from gaming to in car audio to operating systems et all.

With the creation of Linux, Web Search, cheap PC's and web based business apps, cloud computing and now the Open Source OS we're seeing a sea change in how enterprise businesses provide IT. IT Directors must take notice. In order to survive and stay relevant you'll need to become a service enabler, not a service provider.

Outsource everything which is not core or proprietary to your business function and focus on what makes you're organization unique. IT operations must adopt Open Source principles of creating, sharing, connecting to community or relegate themselves to being IT dinosaurs unable to keep pace with a faster more nimble technology world. Gone are the walled gardens, holding the business hostage to 12 month project cycles, and huge clunky enterprise implementations.

Welcome to the Google Enterprise World.

Future of YouTube and Google

On the Google Blog today they reveal more details on the Google Video & YouTube integration:

YouTube, as we've stated previously, will remain an independent subsidiary of Google, and will continue to operate separately. Google will support YouTube by providing access to search and monetization platforms and, when/where YouTube launches internationally, to international resources. YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen and the rest of the YouTube team will continue to innovate exciting new ways for people to "broadcast themselves."

It sounds like they will be allowing YouTube to grow on it's own just as they did with the Blogger acquisition a few years back, but the goal is clear. Include YouTube video in Google search results and find a way to show ads and monetize the traffic. In the same post Google refers to a new Adsense test with Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment where they will provide ad supported video content from Warner and Sony to a select group of web publishers for display on their websites.

It will be interesting to see what ad format dominates the video revolution. Will it be pre-roll, post-roll, small screen or something else?