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The two companies compete in the enterprise search market, but Google found Autonomy's take on how Google's version works to be less than accurate. Matthew Glotzbach on the Google Enterprise team took several shots at Autonomy after one of that firm's white papers landed in his inbox. Glotzbach described what he found on the Google Enterprise blog as "an amalgamation of hearsay and speculation attempting to push customers away from Google and toward their competitive product."

Glotzbach ripped Autonomy's assessment of how Google determines relevancy, the content Google Enterprise can reach, language support, and stemming.

He saved his biggest broadside for Autonomy's assessment of security in Google Enterprise:

In perhaps the most egregious statement in the whole document, the paper states that "Google provides open access to most documents -- a potential hazard for businesses needing to keep proprietary information under wraps." From the beginning, we have provided fast, accurate, and SECURE search within the enterprise. Our document-level security and access control capabilities ensure that users only see the content they are allowed to see, without requiring customers to deploy a new security system or undergo complex integrations.

Autonomy has a little history when it comes to taking shots at Google. Mike Lynch, Autonomy CEO, accused Google of dumbing-down user expectations of search back in 2005.

Making comments in a white paper that Google can rebut may not be the best use of Autonomy's time, especially if Google could claim such remarks are factually incorrect.