In Part I of this two-part series, I discussed the irrationality in Microsoft’s obsessive pursuit of Google. In this part, I suggest some of the opportunities that Microsoft may want to pursue instead:

1. The mobile market: The mobile market is still in its infancy. This is an area that Microsoft did make some early headways through its Windows Mobile platform. Google is quickly catching up by developing its own mobile applications. But jury is still out on who is going to win the mobile market. Microsoft needs to think much harder about what it can do in this market.
2. Instant messaging: Despite the launch of Google Talk and Gmail chat functionality, Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) still has a much larger share of the instant messaging (IM) market. As IM technology is closely tied in with social networking and the mobile market, Microsoft can leverage its position in the IM market into these other fast-growing areas.
3. Platform-free internet-based applications. Google’s array of innovative software and online service solutions are moving computing toward a platform-less environment. This can significantly undermine the foundation of Microsoft’s business. In my opinion, this is a much bigger threat than the search market. To adapt to this change, Microsoft should work on moving its products to a common Internet platform. Rather than spending all the energy on preventing illegal use of its software, Microsoft will be better off taking a stronger lead into developing Internet applications that are not tied in to its Windows platform.

No matter how bad of an image Microsoft may have had in the last few years, we have to acknowledge that the company did play a significant role in computing history. It may still be able to continue its legacy if it could un-blind itself from Google.

Having been traveling and having not caught up on news, I just learned that a shooting tragedy had happened on Northern Illinois University’s campus on Feb. 14, ironically Valentine’s Day. Seeing the names of the victims’ names on NIU’s website brought tears into my eyes. My mourning and sympathy go to the family of the victims of the incident.

This is another college campus shooting event in close proximity in time to the Virginia Tech shooting. As a university professor myself, I cannot say that it does not bring fear to my heart. But besides a sense of anxiety, I am much more concerned with the reasons that triggered such events. What is happening to our college campuses? What is happening to our students? Could us professors and school administrators have done something to deal with this deep level of pressure that drove someone to kill others? I do not have the answer to these questions. I wish we can all understand this better and can help prevent this from happening in the first place.

A while ago, I wrote a blog on my love and hate relationship with Google and my fear of its information power. I just came across this blog on Google no longer trusted by TRUSTe. I visited TRUSTe’s website and verified that Google is indeed not on TRUSTe’s list of trusted organizations any more. That makes you wonder…