Google Vs. Microsoft

Michael V. Copeland, of Business 2.0

It's been a year since Google went public, with a debut so spectacular that one can't help but think of the other technology giant that took the world by storm back in the mideighties. Even Bill Gates himself has sarcastically made the comparison. So it's worth asking: Will Google be a power to rival Microsoft?

Stockwise, it certainly measures up. In its first year, Google's stock went up 185 percent compared with Microsoft's 200 percent. Google came out slightly ahead on the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. It's also made a lot of people very rich very fast; its IPO created three billionaires and hundreds of multimillionaires.

But that's where founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page would like the comparison to end. Even if Gates gives away more money than anyone else on the planet, his company was penalized by the Justice Department for illegally creating a monopoly (read: trying to dominate the entire tech world). Google, in contrast, is known as the Gandhi of the tech world. Googlers drive Priuses and do yoga at lunch, and unlike Gates, who took years to start giving away his money, Page and Brin have already donated some of their newfound wealth to museums, stem cell research, and the like.

Still, not everyone's buying it. Silicon Valley rumormongers say Google is just as cutthroat as its counterpart up North. "Aggressive" and "arrogant" is how one  venture capitalist down there described the company. Like Microsoft did in its early days with IBM, Google is taking on the biggest tech companies around (Yahoo, Mapquest) by expanding into everything from blogs to maps. It shouldn't be a surprise that Microsofters are defecting to Google (or that Microsoft is suing to stop the exodus and the alleged leaks of company secrets).

But whatever its corporate personality, it's not clear that Google could ever wield the same influence Microsoft does. The company's name may already be a verb, but there's nothing to keep us from abandoning our allegiances if a new and—gasp—better service comes along. It's hard to swallow for the type A parents that we are, but our most precocious child may not end up conquering the world. Happy birthday, Google. Now get back to work.