Microsoft shuts down book-scanning operations, cedes to Google

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is getting out of the book-scanning business, an admission the software maker made late last week. Just like competitor Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft wanted to bring entire libraries into the digital realm for customers. The only problem is this: Google's online business is extremely profitable, while Microsoft's is not.

So, out go the boat anchors and what will survive will be the projects best suited to compete head-to-head against Google. Microsoft said that digitizing the world's books to make them searchable online "no longer fits with the company's plan for its search operation."

Is this a sign that Microsoft is becoming choosier in its battles with Google? Of course it is. The "me too" stance the world's largest software company has taken for quite some time can't last forever. Shareholders may demand profits outside Microsoft's Windows and Office franchises at some point, if not right now. At least Ole' Softie did not anger book publishers, since its book-scanning efforts centered on publications already in the public domain; Google's efforts have centered on anything published, regardless of copyright.