San Jose Mercury News - Takahashi: Google, Microsoft's next battle in cloud computing

San Jose Mercury News - Takahashi: Google, Microsoft's next battle in cloud computing: "The real battle between Microsoft and Google - now in conflict over Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo - ultimately isn't over search. Search is the source of Google's revenue and its growth. But it's pouring that money into things that scare Microsoft even more.

The Android cell phone operating system is one of those. It represents a threat to Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system. But a bigger threat is Google's push toward 'cloud computing,' which could dislodge Microsoft's position on the desktop computer.

Cloud computing is computation done not in the desktop but in the Internet-connected 'cloud,' or the heavy-duty computers known as servers in a big company's data center. Also referred to as the 'cloud operating system,' it has been talked about for years and is often dismissed as a minor sideshow. But it is a very real possibility today, and Microsoft should worry about a cloud OS in the hands of Google.

A primitive version of cloud computing already exists through Xcerion, a Swedish company that has created what it calls a 'cloud OS.' After six years of stealth design, it put its beta version out in September. Xcerion has done exactly what Google has reportedly been thinking about doing to undermine the Microsoft Windows monopoly.

The Xcerion OS is based on the XML"