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Rival on turf

By CompiledTimes technology Staff

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The company wouldn't elaborate on those plans — it already has a sales office in Seattle — but the news was enough to get the search world buzzing about Google invading Microsoft's territory.

On his InsideGoogle Web site, blogger Nathan Weinberg posted a picture of "The Simpsons' " Homer Simpson, with Google's logo on his shirt, standing next to his neighbor, Ned Flanders, who wore Microsoft's logo (insidegoogle.blogspot.com/2004/10/google-and-microsoft-neighbors.html).

"I'm just trying to picture in my head a really bad sitcom where two neighbors who run opposing tech companies try to get along at home while waging war on the job," Weinberg wrote.

Not sure if these neighbors will be that friendly. Just as Homer has a tendency to make off with Flanders' power tools, we suspect Google may be permanently borrowing some of Microsoft's resources.

Been there, done that

All the frothing about Google surprises Microsoft's Stuart McKee. In June he became the company's national technology officer, a position in the sales group that advises governments on technology and advocates inside the company for public-sector customers.

High speed The number of broadband subscribers in the United States — both cable and DSL — is expected to approach 50 million in 2008 from 24 million last year. Source: In-Stat/MDR

McKee was formerly the state's chief technology officer, and before that he worked for a series of Internet ventures, including units of Disney and ESPN.

One of his early jobs was with Infoseek, which he characterized as the original search engine on the Internet.

"I watch the whole Google thing (and think) wait a minute, I did that," he said during a speech last week at the Society for Information Management meeting in Seattle.

Thin is in

We almost threw Microsoft's annual report away, thinking it was just another press release from its relentless PR machine.

To remind shareholders for the umpteenth time that it's cutting costs, the report is printed on the equivalent of single-ply, bus-station-grade bath tissue.

No glossy cover, no pictures, not even the usual photo-montage of happy metro-technical types using Tablet PCs.

Apparently when you've got $64 billion in cash on hand, you don't have to dress to impress.

Getting Real

RealNetworks Chief Executive Rob Glaser has a keen interest in politics, but something else has been on his mind this election season. Glaser was to get married Saturday in Santa Barbara, Calif.

RealNetworks was not forthcoming with details about the wedding or his bride. With the weather in Seattle late last week, Glaser can be excused for skipping town for the wedding. And now, no matter who wins the presidential election, he has reason to celebrate.

Dear Greg

Urgent message to Mayor Greg Nickels: If we're going to copy San Francisco, how about starting with free Wi-Fi instead of that odd little trolley system that Paul Allen wants in South Lake Union?

Last week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a plan for citywide free Wi-Fi access, according to an Associated Press report.

"We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service," Newsom said in his state-of-the-city address.

The free service is an effort to bridge the digital divide and "reconnect" the city's poorest and most isolated neighborhoods.

Download, a column of news bits, observations and miscellany, is gathered by The Seattle Times technology staff. We can be reached at 206-464-2265 or biztech@seattletimes.com.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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