July 13th, 2006
Microsoft COO talks tough on enterprise search
"Enterprise search is our business, it’s our house and Google is not going to take that business," said Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s new (11 months) chief operating officer and former Wal-Mart executive. Mike Ricciuti of News.com has the story on Turner’s remarks.
Turner said the company is also gearing up to take on IBM and Oracle, among other competitors, with new products slated for debut in the next few months. But he saved his most acerbic comments for Google."Those people are not going to be allowed to take food off of our plate, because that is what they are intending to do," he said.
I’m surprised that Microsoft hasn’t taken a run at a company like Autonomy or FAST, two leaders in enterprise search, if it’s so serious about making war on Google, IBM and Oracle in that space. Google enterprise search doesn’t have all the fancy features of Autonomy’s product line, but it does have core functionality that enterprises can leverage in the Internet age. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft comes up with in the coming months. Now that Mr. Turner (at left) has laid down the gauntlet, Microsoft better come up with a compelling set of enterprise search solutions, or the new COO will look like he’s not playing with a full deck…
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
