With an already over-bulging feed reader, I no longer just add blog feeds on a whim. They really have to stand out from the crowd to make it into my Feeddemon OMPL. (yes, I am a total geek).

However, lately a new blog has been popping up all over the place and about a month ago, after clicking through to it countless times from other blogs, I subscribed to Read/Write Web. The blog is run by a Kiwi called Richard MacManus who is one pretty smart and insightful chap.

Yesterday, the blog featured a post by Alex Iskold who wrote a post about the browser war heating up in 2007. I’ve always been an avid watcher of the Microsoft, Yahoo, Google battle. Whilst it seems that Yahoo has

a little, Google and Microsoft still haven’t had their big showdown.

A brief excerpt, which really hits the nail on the head:

“To recap, Microsoft's simple plan is this:
   1. Make Windows Live search good enough (except for Image Search, which is awesome)
   2. Roll out new Internet Explorer to the current user base
   3. Make the default search box in the browser Windows Live search
   4. Create idiot-proof videos that show how to use this new search box
   5. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
   6. Kick back and watch the dollars roll in
   7. Last step, repeat above with Microsoft Office and all other windows applications

Viral Marketing 101

Some of you may think we are being too cynical - surely it can't be true? Of course this is true. This is business, with billions of dollars at stake. At the other end of the spectrum, things are looking very serious too. Google has always been religious about its home page appearance. Putting a Firefox ad on it is atypical of them - perhaps even extreme. But Google knows what is coming in Vista - and so we have to assume that this is a purposeful strategy to combat that.”

It's worth reading the whole article - and you may want to subscribe to their feed here.