Google Says, "The Greatest Living American Is..."

I blogged previously about the risk of discounting the prospects of a new Microsoft product or service going against a clear market leader, such as taking on Google in search.

Google is lightning fast, and its paid ads are close enough most of the time to what's being searched for to earn billions in advertising revenue. How could Microsoft compete, much less expect to win?

I read some commentary that with the (pending) purchase of tellme voice technology, Microsoft is poised for the inevitable coming demand for mobile voice-activated searching.

Even as a search tool, Google isn't all that helpful or flexible. If I ask when the baseball playoffs begin, it's likely going to return the correct date, but probably for some previous year, because that's what's been published already. In fact, if I'm searching for information about anybody or anything, It's just as likely that the top results will be hot news about that person or thing from several years ago.

And Google can be manipulated into thinking something is generally recognized as true if enough different sites list the same information. For example (unless they change it quickly), if you search Google for the "greatest living American" it will let you know in its top few matches the consensus of the vast cyberspace universe... Stephen Colbert.

I blogged earlier that I had someone in mind who might in fact be the most important American of the 20th Century (he's slowed down a bit, but still kicking). I will finish writing up my thoughts and post them as the next entry for your consideration.

Hint: it's not Stephen Colbert.  ¶ 5:16 PM