Windows operating systems exceed 80% of the computer desktop market share. Starting from that premise, it could be assumed that the Redmond firm makes a lot of money with this software. However, in a recent episode of the popular tech podcast BG2PodMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella surprisingly indicated that other companies earn more than them:
«Google makes more money with Windows than all of Microsoft. Literally. Oh! “This is the best news for Microsoft shareholders: we have lost so much that now we could challenge it and regain some share.”
The figure is quite incredible considering the direct income that Microsoft obtains from the sale of Windows licenses, plus everything that comes indirectly from using the operating system to promote (critics say illicitly) the rest of its software (Office , Bing, OneDrive, Xbox…). But Nadella makes this assertion by taking into account a fact that, although taken ‘with a grain of salt’, has enormous value: Google’s dominance in search.
Windows, Microsoft, Google and search
And Microsoft has a thorn in the side of Google’s overwhelming dominance in Internet searches, which gives way to everything related to e-commerce and the advertising market. Nadella discussed the search war between Microsoft and Google, admitting that despite having the advantage of Windows, Google still largely dominates the sector.
And Microsoft has done everything and has been willing to invest the money that would have been necessary. The Redmond firm has tried on several occasions reach an agreement with Apple to make Bing its search engine predetermined. «An opportunity that would change the rules of the game»as they cited, and for which the company was willing to pay 15,000 million dollars annually.
Apple has always opted for Google both for the multi-million dollar amount received and for the quality of the software. In the recent antitrust trial against Google, Apple’s spokesperson did not leave Microsoft’s search service in a bad light: «I don’t think there is any Price in the world that Microsoft could offer us. They offered to give us Bing for free. “They could give us the entire company”.
Generative AI can change the search market
What Microsoft has not achieved can be achieved by generative artificial intelligence technologies and their application to online searches.
Nadella talked about it when he welcomed the Apple agreement with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT to its set of technologies. “I’ve been trying to get a search deal with Apple for about 10 years, and when Tim finally made a deal with Sam, I was the most excited person”Nadella said. «It is better for ChatGPT to get that deal than anyone else because we have a commercial and investment relationship with OpenAI».
Internet liars say that the enormous popularity that a bot like ChatGPT is achieving has set off alarm bells in the Mountain View barracks. CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red” for development teams to accelerate AI projects at Google.
The creator of Gmail himself, Paul Buccheit, warned that this type of botchat would eliminate Google’s most lucrative productyour search engine. And he further indicated that even if the Internet giant somehow caught up with artificial intelligence “You couldn’t fully implement it without destroying the most valuable part of your business”.
Google will have serious problems maintaining its dominance in searches. Because of antitrust court cases and the arrival of emerging search engines powered by AI, such as ChatGPT Search. Curious that Microsoft could be one of the big beneficiaries.
