Excellent insight into the ongoing battle between Microsoft and Google was presented in the NYtimes article, “Google Gets Ready to Rumble with Microsoft.” The overall argument from Google is essentially, quit paying for Microsoft Office and use Google Apps, it’s free and stored on the web. Which are fighting words for Microsoft since Office is one of its biggest cash cows.

The part that caught my eye was a quote by Dave Girouard, the general manager of Google’s enterprise business, relating to the shift from desktop to cloud computing.

“In the corporate market, Google sees itself as a powerful agent of change, breaking down old barriers. “For the last 30 or 40 years, there has been this huge Chinese wall between business and consumer technology,” Mr.Girouard says. “That was historical and no longer valid.”"

Dave is almost right. The power available to consumers, in the form of hardware and software, is mostly equal compared with corporations. And the web has done a tremendous job in facilitating that balance of power. Examples are all over the place. Before Salesforce.com, a company would have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars to buy CRM(customer relationship management) software from enterprise software shops like Siebel Systems (now part of Oracle). Back then, the individual was basically out of luck. Nowadays web based applications such as salesforce.com are affordable and available to everyone, although, not necessarily secure.

As far as Chinese walls go, however, there is still a major one in the way. Web authentication does not match corporate authentication. It isn’t even close. The entire web, certainly all web-based products from Microsoft (packaged software not included) and Google, utilize passwords as their standard form of authentication. While corporations do all kinds of crazy tricks to secure access to their networks, the web consumer essentially has no choice but passwords. Passwords that even Bill Gates acknowledges are the weakest link in security. And crazier still, both of these companies want you to do everything online. Not just email and word processing, but medical records, financial management, business collaboration etc… with essentially no REAL security.

Hey Microsoft and Google. (And everybody else who wants to store personal data online.) Let’s break down the last remaining wall!

See my thoughts here:
What would the Internet look like if everyone had corporate grade authentication?
Universal Strong Authentication Enabler

And yes, you can make money doing it too. (your shareholders will like that)