The One Laptop per Child (in less than $US 100) initiative is designed to provide access to technology in the classroom for the developing world. Addition of a social networking component to series of Google products
There have been two pieces of news on the technology front that have not elicited the amount of attention that they deserved this past week. The first item is with reference to Microsoft joining the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative. The other is that Google is rumored to be planing a social networking site. Why are these items important? Because both initiatives are on the cusp of the digital divide between the developed and the developing world. The One Laptop per Child initiative is obvious, in that the initiative is designed to provide access to technology in the classroom for the developing world. The project has been bogged down in infighting with regards to which processor and which operating system to be used in the specially designed computers that are supposed to cost less than $US 100. The second item is less obvious at first blush. With the addition of a social networking component to their series of products that includes among others, Gmail and Google Docs, Google will have a very strong line up of components that go fall into the Web 2.0 category. Read the full story

Yup, so today morning i woke up, opened fresh edition of The Times of India and guess what greeted me “Microsoft drops bid to acquire Yahoo”. Oh dear… I exclaimed. It has finally ended.. Has it? That’s the big question which is lurking in my mind. As I followed the sequence of events on the whole Microsoft Vs Yahoo battle.. I realized that there is something more to this and that this war is not over..

On Feb 1, 2008 the world went into frenzy when it was reported that Microsoft had offered to buy Yahoo at $44.6 billion. Well that was close to $31 a share. There was an uproar on the internet, with digs, sphinns, stumbles and bloggers working over night to report it to their readers.

Well obviously it was a big news, what would happen? Will Microsoft’s long standing dream of dominating the Internet finally be accomplished? What will happen to Google? They are the Internet Leaders at this stage. What will happen to the employees? Will there be a job cut? What will happen to MSN? Live Search? WOW…

We didn’t have to wait long as on 4th of Feb Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang told his employees that he might consider selling the company to Microsoft. Ok..here we go again…diggs and stumbles and bloggers.. were at it again..

As days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Yahoo kept on rejecting Microsoft’s bid and Microsoft kept on relentlessly…well… rebidding…Yahoo’s claimed that offer by Microsoft was way below the company’s worth. And so finally on 3rd May 2008 after yet another rejection from Yahoo which to make the total buyout to $31 a share, Microsoft withdrew the offer.

Winner of the battle of Yahoo Vs Microsoft……well obviously GOOGLE. Google will surely be having the last laugh today. They stood by Yahoo during their testing times and made Yahoo realize that they were worth much more. Microsoft could only sit and watch as Yahoo kept on rejecting their plea after plea.

Microsoft is the most powerful player in the Operating System domain. But the fact that they are not the leaders in the Internet domain has always bitten them. Google on the other hand has been brilliant competitors and appeared in last couple of years as internet giant. Not only Google search is the most widely used search engine but apart from that people are fast realizing the power of Gmail (GTalk including), Google Docs, Groups and other Google product features… Google’s AdSense is a brilliant strategy which millions of bloggers around the globe getting benefit out of it. And Google Maps, for promotion of blogging blogger.com; internet users realize that Google is offering a complete package. Not only is that it being offered for free. And this is how when everything is slowly moving away from the desktop to the internet. Google has brilliantly captured the market.

While Microsoft seems far behind in this regard. It did come up with a Live Search, Maps etc. People still know Microsoft that Google is sitting way beyond its reach in the bid to Internet dominance. And it was this reason that made Microsoft put a $31 a share bid in front of Yahoo… And after final rejection….Yahoo doesn’t win or lose…Microsoft doesn’t win or lose…only Google THE BOSS wins…as it sees its best competitor go another step back in an effort to reach them.