Microsoft has recently become quite opportunistic, making hay with the recent bad publicity concerning Google’s privacy policy changes and shredding it apart in every possible way in a bid to draw users away from Google. The recent streamlining of the various privacy policies of Google services apparently has several loopholes, which a senior Microsoft executive Frank Shaw blogged about recently. He said that it was worrying that a company with the user base of Google should have such issues with privacy and of course let it drop that Microsoft was a safer option.
The new combined privacy statement of Google allows it to share a user’s information between the various services offered by the search engine giant. Google suffered heavy criticism after concerns about this move and has been asked by Congress to justify the changed policy, which has its own set of concerns about the company and its services.
If Congress’ involvement wasn’t concerning enough for Google users, the Microsoft executive went on to say that Google is now making it hard for people to control the flow of their personal details and information over the internet and followed it up by saying that Microsoft allows users that freedom. This was justified by citing Microsoft services which allow users to use the cloud or their hard disk for storing their personal data. He went on to promote Microsoft’s services such as Hotmail which don’t track user habits to generate targeted advertisements, as well as services like Office365 which protect users from advertisement sharks.
The blog posts by Frank Shaw seem to be part of a larger strategy at Microsoft as it has been publishing large advertisements in newspapers highlighting the adverse aspects of Google services. This ad campaign by Microsoft adds to the existing rivalry between the two companies which, though seemingly operating in different spheres, are competing in a number of key segments. The two companies have often contested for the same government contracts.
While Google has been developing Google Apps, Microsoft has been promoting Office365, a direct competitor to the popular Google Docs. Though Google is synonymous with internet search, Microsoft has also been trying to catch up with its Bing engine for which it has partnered with Yahoo for better search results. On the browser front, Internet Explorer is still the most popular but is losing its sheen while Google Chrome continues to fight Firefox for the second place.
