Let’s Go Shopping Google

Initially I was against the Microsoft Yahoo deal that is raging right now. It angered me that Microsoft was intending to spend 44 billion dollars on a company that I feel is a pile of rancid crap.

A short time ago I changed my mind however because I am hoping that Microsoft will spend so much money on this deal that it will ultimately contribute to their demise.

Why would I want Microsoft to die? Because they are no longer a technology leader and we need new blood in the computer technology industry. As long as Microsoft is around we will stay mired in legacy technologies that have run out of steam. Intel and other brand CPUs will remain x86 compatible and this has a domino effect on all other microelectronic areas like RAM and video graphics chip research.

As long as Microsoft is around they will also forever keep trying to steer the world towards proprietary and closed architectures that stifle true software innovation.

Another reason is that I guess you could say I was a Star Trek fan. What the hell does this have to do with Microsoft? Well I don’t remember ever seeing anyone buy software on any Star Trek episode or movie. It seems that software in a Star Trek future was free and open source and that kind of makes sense in that future doesn’t it?

Science Fiction has a knack for coming true, not always, but often enough for me to believe that the world really needs to be more open in software development as well as other areas for civilization to advance.

So what does all this have to do with taking Google’s cash and going shopping? I read today that Google has struck a deal with Salesforce.com. In a story at News.com Cnet also reports that Microsoft is planning a release of their own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.

While Microsoft is busy buying Yahoo, Google ought to consider the outright purchase of Salesforce, integrate it entirely into their existing online office product range (Gmail, Calendar, Google Talk and Google Apps) and cut the price for the Salesforce license by 50 percent or more. Free would be the best if that is somehow doable from Google’s side.

So while Microsoft is so busy adding products similar to what it already has in it’s portfolio, Google would be adding something new and very useful to theirs. My guess is that Salesforce can be had for less than Microsoft is intending to spend on Yahoo.

With Salesforce in Google’s hands they would be in a great position to introduce CRM to a whole new audience and a huge open source development community. I can only image the innovation that could be born of this.

So let’s go shopping Google.