Lets see here. It’s the holiday. Folks are finishing up their shopping lists, ready to flaunt hard-earned spending power on new tech gadgets. Companies have released top notch products for consumers. Seasonal beers are out. So everyone is in a good mood right? Not quite. Nicholas Carr, one of the most impressive technology writers I’ve seen, and Microsoft, have decided to beat up on Google, the company that exemplifies coolness to many tech buffs (compare Google’s cartoonish icon colors to images of Darth Vader conjured up when Microsoft is mentioned).

Carr states Google has stopped beating around the bush regarding its intentions of toppling Microsoft Office. Google wants to send Microsoft off into the sunset. No longer are Google’s online productivity applications destined for just “casual use.” This is in contrast with how Google has marketed SpreadSheet and Document as complements to Microsoft Office. As Carr remarks, that "pretense has been abandoned."

Carr writes:

(Eric) Schmidt is making it clear that the goal is to topple Office - and soon: "Today we live in the clouds ... Simplicity is triumphing over complexity. Accessibility is beating exclusivity." 2007... will be the year ...Google takes off the gloves in the fight for the future of personal business applications. Not coincidentally, it's the same year that Microsoft will be pushing customers to upgrade to a new version of its traditional Office suite.

Shortly after writing this piece, Carr reports on an interview with a Microsoft executive, who "spoke as if replying" to Google’s comments on Microsoft Office. Basically, Microsoft says that Google better come out strong and make a product worth competing with Office.

"The simple argument that 'this is good enough for 90 percent of what we do' has fallen on its face over and over and over again… When it comes to mission critical things and key pieces of how people run their businesses, the threshold is higher …Free software has an appealing ring to it, but free software has been around for a while now and it turns out free doesn't trump the software doing what people need it to do…"

Now, Carr does predict that Microsoft’s stock will outperform Google’s in 2007, due in part to sales of the next version of Office. If true, this may be due to Microsoft simply making a good product rather than Google failing to officially enter the productivity app market. So, Carr and Microsoft may not have needed to jump all over Google afterall.

Kith kith...

Come on guys, leave Google alone... grouches.