Microsoft Revenge Google by Staging an Opera

strange US game
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

No, they are not buying the browser with bittorrent capabilities built in, that Switters installs across multiple devices. They will be staging a 3 intermission opera, ala La Boheme that Fred Wilson and Gotham Gal attended (and got extremely bored at). The first act of the Opera will be Microsoft in the 90's with Netscape, the Sidewalk City Guide days (which i worked on :) and some DOJ plus GOOG forebearing. The second act will be pretty much All About Google; Highlights will be the IPO followed by the more recent AOL deal scooped by Google. (although they were only ever going to go GOOG) The Third Act is when Microsoft strikes back and buy a Browser company (and this is where the meta-element comes in because this opera is really about an opera, gettit ?) At the end of the Opera, an accountant (or it may have been Ray Ozzie) comes out and the lights go black, excitedly he says "Here comes a surprise. In a recent conversation with one of our insiders at Microsoft, the source revealed that Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, has acquired Opera Software, makers of the Opera browser. The insider reported that both Microsoft and Google were trying to bid on Opera, but in the end, the software maker took the lead... Perhaps the most desirable feature that Opera has to offer is its mobile version of the browser. Thus far, it’s the best mobile browser currently on portable devices, and it will surely give Microsoft an easy entry into the mobile market, especially as that market continues to flourish gradually."