Google takes direct aim at Microsoft

be a better model of development and the platform of the future. We look forward to seeing how [Google's] project will progress," said Leigh Day, senior director of global corporate communications for Red Hat.

But the support Google needs doesn't center on furthering the cause for Linux and open source.

"The real critical issue for now is not how well can Google create a netbook OS, it is more how can they build out a very robust and interesting partner infrastructure for building applications and tools that PC users depend on every day," says Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT. "We have to see some major-league ISVs buy into the Web-delivery apps that Chrome OS devices are built for."

That part of the equation is another area where Google has an awful lot of ground to make up on Microsoft, which will welcome more than 7,500 partners to its annual Partner Conference next week.

It is there that Microsoft is expected to unveil pricing for its Azure cloud computing platform and release preview code for its Office Web Apps. The Office Web Apps, slated to ship early next year with Office 2010, are one reason Google last week removed the beta tag from its Google Apps.

"For too many companies looking at commercial Gmail, the beta label was like a blinking neon light that flashed 'amateur, amateur…' " said Matt Cain, an analyst with Gartner.

Microsoft plans to weave a story of integration between the Web-based Office apps and the traditional desktop version.

The Office Web Apps will provide synchronization of e-mail, calendar and contact items between Web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari; desktop applications through the Outlook client; and mobile devices from Microsoft, RIM and Apple.

It's a powerful link that could help Microsoft stem any bleeding from its Office install base to Web-based productivity applications Google will offer using Chrome OS as the interface and Google Apps on the backend.

"If you could run [Microsoft] Office on Linux or on a Google operating system, I think the other operating systems would be much more appealing," says Tom Amrhein, CIO at Forrester Construction in Rockville, Md. "The reason Microsoft has a good grasp on the desktop has less to do with the desktop than its complete domination of the office space."

Microsoft will tighten that grip with other innovations that nip at features of Google Voice that have limited integration with Google Apps.

At the Partner Conference it is expected to show Office Web Apps support for voice mail delivery to e-mail in-boxes, either via audio or transcription of the message into text. Users also will be able to communicate using IM integrated with a user's desktop Outlook address book.

Ironically, Google is in a position Microsoft has often been caught in when it has shipping and non-shipping products that need to be integrated to support a grand platform vision.

Only time will tell if Google can pull it all together.

"We do not expect Google Chrome OS to take over the world – it is a bit late for that," said Ovum's Lachal.

Network World Senior Writer Jon Brodkin contributed to this report.