We are in the midst of some big changes, and the biggest competitor today is Google.

We are in a new world, where the lines between print and Web are not so clear. It isn’t a matter of Web pubs competing with print pubs, but the entire Internet is arranged differently and people are getting their information – especially technical information – in some very different ways. Gone are those general news portal sites. Does anyone still bookmark CNN.com and TheStreet.com? Indeed, what is a bookmarked site anymore? I can’t remember the last time I bookmarked a site. So yesterday.

The World of Google has become the 900-pound gorilla for supplying the best technical information. When we survey our engineering audience, they start by googling for some product information. While we would like them to first go to our own Web sites, the reality of the situation is that Google is their default home page.

Microsoft has it wrong: they are trying to extend Windows outward, across the Internet. That is yesterday’s thinking. While the desktop is important, Google has it completely right: take the search metaphor, and extend it downwards so that all of your information has just been merged with the zillions of Internet-based sources.

You can read the entire essay here.