Rumor: Microsoft To Buy ESRI?

So if both Microsoft and ESRI are concerned about the Google's move into mapping with the impressive Google Earth, then perhaps a Microsoft-ESRI combination would be the way to fight back.

Wow. That's a big rumor.

A colleauge and friend who is intimately familiar with geographic information systems (GIS), writes, "Just to give you a sense of the kind of firestorm that is raging through the world of GIS marketing because of Google and Microsoft" with a pointer to Memo to Bill Gates on the GLE Earth a blog about things being done with Google Earth.

"Google Earth is the next-generation browser, it has blindsided you, and you have nothing in the pipeline that delivers the same oomph or the extensibility of Google Earth. You need to recover from this situation quickly... The big idea wouldn't just be geosearching. It'd be adding a geospatial dimension to much of what Microsoft produces. ArcView is an obvious addition to Microsoft Office. Microsoft and ESRI already team up to provide business solutions."

My colleague writes, "I think it is all a bunch of crap ... but, fun to talk about."

Of course, it would be cool to have ESRI products integrated into the desktop.