Microsoft is fighting back - and it's not about search

Hmmm, I knew I wouldn't be alone with the view that Google search is the beachhead into the enterprise from which to attack Microsoft Office (my posting)

Charlene Li from Forrester has come to the same conclusion via the Microsoft bid to buy Yahoo!:

It's About More Than Search

Microsoft's long-standing interest in search -- and obsession with Google's dominance in it -- is the foundation for the acquisition. But we think that it's much more than that. Microsoft is interested in search because it provides a beachhead into businesses -- especially small and medium-sized ones who don't have a direct relationship with Microsoft.

That's Google real threat -- the ability to leverage today's search relationship into Google Domains and eventually, software as a service that could undermine Microsoft's long-term position -- and as Kyle McNabb and Rob Kplowitz point out, at risk is Microsoft Office's current dominant position. To that end, Microsoft is buying significant share with Yahoo!, not only from search users, but also search advertisers and other relationships via Yahoo! Store.

And so has Scoble:

It’s the fear that Google’s Docs and Spreadsheets might someday take marketshare away from Office that I think was driving this deal.