Gates claims Google is all hype and bluster

4 Mar 2008 | 10:38 GMT

By Sylvie Barak

TAKING QUESTIONS from the audience at his company's Sharepoint conference in Seattle yesterday, chief Vole Bill Gates dismissed Google's Apps as being of no threat whatsoever to Sharepoint.

He implied that the Search engine outfit had little to no understanding of businesses special needs, and noted that Google Talk is hardly changing the world. He did admit that Google's Internet searching tools were pretty good though.

Gates said that Google's online offerings, which many see as direct competition to the Volish Office and Sharepoint applications, just didn't have the richness or responsiveness that businesses demanded.

He also reckoned that Google were all mouth and no trousers, making much of the marketing hype surrounding its apps, but gaining very little market penetration at the end of the day.

"The day they announce them is their best day," he said. Adding in an aside: "I might be biased."

Asked about who he would back as US president, Gates refused to publicly comment, but directed people to the website www.one.org, which is one of his funded projects to get candidates to state their positions on global health care. µ

L'Inq
AP

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