The Wolf in Googly Clothing.

Last week I talked a little about competition. The article focused on the subtle usage of attack ads, and the nature of going after the competition.

There are other ways, of course, to deal with your business competitors. Microsoft, in a bold gesture of "Can't-beat-'em? Join-em!" spirit, has decided to eschew competing with its rivals altogether and will instead now exclusively focus on imitating them. By mirroring the winning moves that challengers have made, ol' softy is hoping to win new customers and make over their image.

The primary disguise Microsoft is wearing is that of Google. I could go into how bing.com is rapidly becoming the butt of a grand Internet joke comparing it to the great Google-y moogly. I could mention that many consider the onomatopoeic name more likely an acronym for "But It's Not Google." Or I could just show you some logos...

Below are the logos for Windows 7 (the product that is supposed to redeem the Vista disaster) and Google Wave (the product that is supposed to forever change the way everyone communicates on the internet). I should note that the only photoshoppery performed below was comping the two logos together and resizing them; no color shifting was used, nor were the background or shadows affected.