Microsoft Following in Google's Foot Steps?- Click here http://bit.ly/pSatIR for full article

Microsoft Following in Google's Foot Steps?- Click here http://bit.ly/pSatIR for full article

Technology journalists were whispering Friday about Tulalip, a rumored social networking application from Microsoft. The application was posted briefly before being taken down, suggesting a strategic leak by Microsoft to test the market's reaction to another entry in the social networking arena. The industry has been upended in the last month as Google+ launched to enormous fanfare, providing innovative changes to sharing and privacy that have bothered a large segment of Facebook users. Some insiders are predicting a large swing in market share as users abandon Facebook for Google+, and Microsoft may be trying to catch some of those unhappy users with Tulalip.

This news has industry analysts wondering whether Microsoft is again playing catch-up with Google. The company already trails in the search engine market with Bing, which holds a paltry 15% market share compared to Google, which leads the market with a 66% share. Microsoft also bought Skype, whose recent deal with Facebook to provide live video chat sets up a battle with Google, which offers live two-way and group video chat through the Hangouts feature on Google+. Tulalip would be coming at a moment when Facebook is losing market share to Google+, which has grown to over 10 million users within a few weeks.

The more even fight between Google and Microsoft, however, will be over cloud computing. As companies have questioned the necessity for dedicated servers -- which are expensive, difficult to maintain, and cost money even when computing demand is low -- Google and Microsoft have begun offering cloud computing and storage to businesses.

Google has a slight advantage in this race to the cloud. Looking at the top of their home page explains why: Google now offers e-mail, social networking, Docs (its version of Microsoft Office), calendar, pictures, and videos to its users online and for no charge. It also released its own free operating system, Chrome OS, which will allow users to run their computers with only internet access by putting all of their files and applications online. For nearly every reason consumers need a computer, Google offers a free version online. Selling cloud storage to consumers and businesses will provide billions in new revenue to the market leader.

Businesses should watch developments in cloud computing and storage. Eliminating servers and IT support will allow many companies to cut costs and increase profits by paying for on-demand storage and computing from Google or Microsoft. That's far more consequential than Facebook or Twitter, who still have a very limited capacity to reach consumers with a company's message. After all, how many businesses have cut costs with a Facebook page or a tweet?