Mister Softee Looks to Eat Google's Lunch

Since Google's initial public offering a bit more than a year ago, investors have perceived the company's growth as open-ended, and its shares have more than quadrupled. Google shares are now a must own for growth-oriented investors.

Despite today's ringing endorsements by investors and analysts (who are notoriously prone to extrapolate and overestimate future growth), Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google will eventually look a lot like the the three major television networks before the introduction of cable.

I started this opening missive with the notion that Google likely has several outstanding quarters in front of it. But there is no doubt, in this observer's mind, that Microsoft's troops (which are currently forming phalanxes in Redmond) are a competitive threat that will affect Google's growth rate adversely in the years to come.