Google (GOOG) Gets Another Chance To Take Down Microsoft (MSFT)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published

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Google (GOOG) came very close to facing antitrust charges when it planned to partially marry its search system with Yahoo!’s (YHOO). With 65% of the US search market,  analysts believe the Google has a monopoly without Yahoo!.

It is ironic then that Google has joined the EU in its complaint against the dominance of Microsoft’s (MSFT) browser.

In a statement picked up by Reuters, Sundar Pichai, Google vice president product manager said, “Google believes that the browser market is still largely uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users.”

It is yet another way for Google to tie up Microsoft resources while it tries to to gain share from the world’s largest software company. By helping to stretch Microsoft’s resources, Google will buy itself time to compete.

The EU suit is a legacy of a period when Microsoft was a successful monopolist. Its Internet Explorer browser is quickly losing business to Google’s own Chrome product and offerings from Mozilla and Apple (AAPL). The European case may help Microsoft’s competition, but it is based on a competitive world that no longer exists. Microsoft has lost too much ground.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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