Google's Postini-foot in Microsoft's door

I read Alan's assessment of Google's acquisition of Postini and decided I really can't give him a pass on this one. I have to take the other side of this argument.

Postini and Google is all about Google getting into more of Microsoft's customers, some say as many as 35,000 current Postini customers. If Google is providing email spam filtering services, it can just as easily expanding those accounts by offering other software as services (SaaS), namely Google Apps and gmail.

Isn't getting revenues from IT organizations the real game here for Google after all? What better way to expand their revenue base. They aren't creating web 2.0 apps for the fun of it.

This is Google's way to get some real type of a foothold into businesses. Email has always been the killer app. Lets see if Google can turn this into a great lead generation engine for other Google products. I suspect we'll see some traction here, but it could be just as harmful to the Linux desktop movements as it is to Microsoft. There will always be entrenched Microsoft users who won't switch just as there are Cisco drones in the networking world. Again, this could end up being a bigger play against Linux in the long run but I in no way believe Google's intentions are focused on anything other than squarely on Microsoft.

So, I don't believe this is business as usual for Google as Alan does. They aren't going to topple Microsoft tomorrow but they must have a way of getting in the door before any attempts to turn the tide can really be effective. Plus, the Hoff-man agrees with me so now I know I'm right. :)

Comments

[Cap]

I think this goes to show the importance of online security. Google would not have been able to make that next step to take on Microsoft without buying Postini and adding them to their business email service.

[RaviC]

I am really surprised that postini is positioned as a security company. I always think of them as anti-spam company!