In Challenge to Microsoft, PC Makers Test Laptops Running Google Software

By JUSTIN SCHECK and NICK WINGFIELD, Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2009

Hewlett-Packard Co. and other PC makers are considering using free software developed by Google Inc. to run some small computers, a move that would open a new front in the battle between the Internet giant and Microsoft Corp.

PC makers are testing Google's Android operating system—which has so far been used to power mobile phones—for use in new models of so-called netbooks, inexpensive laptops that have become the fastest-growing segment of the PC industry.

Google, which dominates Internet search, already challenges Microsoft on other fronts, including with its free word-processing and spreadsheet software, neither of which has succeeded in denting Microsoft's Office suite. The effort to move Android to netbooks targets Windows, which generated more than 60% of Microsoft's operating profit in its last fiscal year.

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