Sunday, May 9, 2010

Free Lunch: Competition from Google Docs Forces Microsoft to Offer Free Version of Office 2010

Seattle Times -- "Microsoft launches its latest version, Office 2010, on Wednesday in New York — and the stakes couldn't be higher. The lucrative franchise is threatened by a changing market spouting a four-letter word: free. The biggest threat comes from Google, specifically Google Docs, Web applications accessible from any computer. Because of Google, Microsoft has been forced to make a free ad-supported version called Office Web Apps."

MP: Another great example of how market competition is often more effective at regulating monopolies than the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission, and how even long-standing monopolies and dominant firms are eventually challenged by innovation and competition.

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