Tim Howell’s Weblog

Typically when you think of Microsoft and how it makes its revenue, its operating systems and Office franchise spring to mind, each of which generate billions of dollars of revenue for the company, ensuring it has the funds to invest in other emerging areas such as Media Center and MSN. Recently it was announced that there’s another member of the billion dollar club at Microsoft: Microsoft Exchange generated over US$1 billion of revenue in 2004. While this is a small percentage of the US$36.8 billion revenue generated by the company as a whole, one could hardly call this product insignificant. 

Speaking of revenue, Google recently announced a budget search appliance for internal company use. Analysts estimate that sales from its enterprise search products make up “only” $50 million of its annual revenue, yet how many companies would like a product that successful?

Yet further analysis of Google and what it is doing has appeared in both print and on TV in recent weeks, with the following two examples interesting for different reasons.

MIT Technology Review has published a detailed analysis of Google and where it might be heading and how, in particular, it is inevitably positioning itself for a showdown with Microsoft. Written by Charles Ferguson, who co-founded Vermeer Technologies which was acquired by Microsoft several years ago, the piece is a combination of detailed analysis of the current status of Google, and intelligent speculation as to how Google might leverage its platform in the future. This is worth reading several times, as this will be one of the closely fought battles of 2005 and beyond. If, like us, you are interested in the Microsoft and Google worlds, then this is recommended reading.

Living in New Zealand, it will probably be a few months before we see this on our screens here, but on January 3 the US-based 60 Minutes show profiled Google in one of their segments, the transcript of which is available online. For those of us who watch the search industry, and who want a mainstream insight into a company which arguably had the highest profile of any tech company in 2004, this is also worth a look.

I was a fan of both the Commodore 64 and the Amiga, back in the days when modems were used to connect to bulletin boards, the speed of a PC was a fraction of those today, and a hard drive was a genuine luxury. While both these computers only live on in the worlds of enthusiasts and emulators, it’s pleasing to see the Commodore brand has been given yet another lease of life

Certain to amaze, the 20Q ball from Radica was one of the hits this Christmas, at least in this household. Based on the classic game of twenty questions, this “toy” takes this concept into the 21st century - you think of something and this ball will attempt to guess what you’re thinking. Amazingly, it manages to guess correctly 90% of the time, even obscure objects such as a ‘golf ball’ or ‘cricket bat’. Of course, it isn’t perfect, but that somehow doesn’t matter - it’s fun seeing what questions it poses, and the path these questions take. Definitely worth looking at if you want a good conversation piece, or even as an educational tool for kids.