Google Vs Microsoft/Yahoo

J’aime être différent (du moins, je me targue de l’être à plus d’un égard) et ne pas reprendre ou parler ici de ce qui est généralement tapissé à la grandeur du Web. Du moins, si je le fais, j’essaie de trouver l’angle différent. Il en est ainsi pour l’évidente nouvelle du possible achat de Yahoo par Microsoft. L’histoire n’est certes pas nouvelle, j’en parlais déjà en mai 2007 et cette perspective était fortement suggérée par The Economist en août 2006. D’ailleurs dans cet article on présentait Google comme le Napoléon du 21e siècle et Microsoft et Yahoo comme la Russie et la Prusse. Disons que l’on voit souvent ces deux entreprises somme les perdants du Web.

Lauren Weinstein, dans son billet Microsoft's Secret Weapon Against Google rappelle que les faits peuvent prendre une tout autre couleur.

While Microsoft's business missteps in the Web world have led many to retarget their "big firms are bad firms" arguments from Microsoft to the services powerhouse that is Google, the undeniable fact remains that Microsoft has an immensely important structural advantage — with vast anticompetitive potential — that is without compare.
Despite some inroads by other operating systems, Microsoft's Windows incarnations, and their Internet Explorer browser, still control the overwhelmingly vast majority of desktop systems, as much as hardcore Linux and Firefox aficionados (and that includes me) might prefer to forget this fact.
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It's hard to imagine a Microsoft/Yahoo merger scenario where Microsoft wouldn't in some manner wish to leverage this structural advantage to favor its own properties, absent relevant and effective judicial rulings or legislative actions to the contrary.
And this brings up another crucial and often overlooked difference between Microsoft and Google. By and large, for Google users to switch to another service provider for most applications is basically as simple as changing a URL, as quick as altering a browser bookmark. Leaving Google by voting with their feet (or rather their fingers) is usually an easy option. The only real hold that Google has on users is the high quality of its applications and services.
Microsoft is a different story when it comes to the Windows OS. Despite lots of talk, lawyers' fees, and complicated agreements, Microsoft's hold on the computing desktop is still overwhelming, and practical OS alternatives for most non-techies (especially that they can run on their existing hardware) are still lacking in many respects for this class of users, despite the continuing evolution of the Linux desktop environment.
These users remain firmly chained to Microsoft as the software gateway to all aspects of the Internet, and typically for them any major changes to this situation would be either uneconomical, impractical, or both.

Michelle Blanc

Michelle Blanc, M.Sc. (HEC Montréal), est consultante senior en stratégie numérique, intelligence artificielle générative et agentique, GEO et renseignement de sources ouvertes (OSINT/SOCMINT). Pionnière du blogue d'affaires francophone au Canada depuis 2005, elle est autrice de Confessions d'une experte (2025) et de La Promptothèque (2026), chargée de cours en marketing entrepreneurial à HEC Montréal et fondatrice d'Analyweb Inc. Récipiendaire de la Médaille du couronnement du roi Charles III (2025) pour sa contribution à l'innovation numérique au Canada.

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