Battle of the Giants: Microsoft vs Google!

The first plenary session at UKSG 2007 provided a rare treat; a chance to see two industry giants in action. Microsoft's Cliff Guren, Director of Publishing Evangelism, and Google's Philippe Colombet, Manager, Strategic Partner Development, presented their take on the world - interesting to see Microsoft's embryonic competitor products to Google's Scholar and Book Search. Even more interesting was the fact that Google announced a powerpoint solution on the last day of our conference (that was kept very quiet!) which suggests more of a step into each other's areas.

However several speakers at the conference referred to the 'googleization' of students in academia; perhaps the move to make them 'Microsoftized' has come too late when it comes to sophisticated searching tools and digitisation solutions? Or is it simply a case of 'watch this space'?