Will Google Own the Cloud?

Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The cloud's not-so-silver lining. One of the reasons that Google might eventually own the cloud is that it doesn't need the money. Huh?

Google can monetize its investments in ways not available to its competitors. It can afford to give away the entry level Google Apps edition, and offer "dirt cheap" pricing on the more "upscale" version(s), because its search business is so profitable.

Search is also still a "sleeper app." Huh? You heard it right. The power of search has not fully been tapped and appreciated from an applications perspective. I wrote about that here in Search, KM & the Practice of Law.

I recently placed a tech support call with one of the giants of the tech industry and the "help desk" person chose to use Google instead of their own systems to find product information. Why? It was faster. I often use Google for case law research before using my paid options. Why? It is faster to get a quick overview this way.

Law firms have barely begun to tap the power of search. From a purely selfish perspective I hope that they don't!