Google is one of the few software companies that really understands the saying "Eat your own dog food". They build something for internal use, refine it, and release it to the world when it is near-perfect. Hence, there is now Google Desktop, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Groups, Deskbar, Glossary, News alerts, ... Google also understands the power of open standards and open API's. As such they can benefit from thousands of developers who are eager to expand Google's search and desktop experience, and they can benefit from their underdog role to Microsoft that they currently still have.
One of the most recent additions to the "Googlesphere" was Google Talk, a Windows application (but other platforms coming soon to a desktop near you) for instant messaging and PC-to-PC voice calls. Google Talk relies on the XMPP (a.k.a. Jabber) Extensible Messaging and Presence protocol, which some other instant messaging tools (IM) also rely on, but not the market leaders such as Yahoo or MSN Messenger. However, you can expect this move to bring more interoperability to the IM market, which would be a good thing. Moreover, XMPP is an open protocol, so it is relatively easy for game developer or productivity software developers to plug into the instant messaging protocol and to use Google talk for intercommunication.
Google Talk requires a Gmail account, but the popularity of this email platform has been hampered by the fact that these have only been available on invitation. It is clear that Google wants to avoid Gmail abuse, but if it wants to make Google Talk more successful, it will have to open up. It is now doing so by using a mobile phone authentication scheme, but this looks very tedious. It will obviously take some time for loyal Yahoo IM users like me or loyal MSN Messenger users like my kids to buy into the Google platform.
Another recent release was Google Desktop 2, which is often compared to other desktop search utilities. However, Google has bigger plans. Remember how Google said "No" to Microsoft's takeover offer ? Google is building a platform on top and independent of various operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac) and it is starting to look impressive. One of the underestimated features of the Google Desktop is the Sidebar, which allows you to build and run very simple productivity applications, much in the same way as widget programs like Konfabulator allow you to. It is extensible, and you may expect numerous useful apps to become available via the worldwide developer community.
Also take a look at the Google Portal at http://www.google.com/ig: a wonderful and simple interface that can be completely tailored to your specific requirements (using RSS). By the way, wasn't that the definition of a portal ?
Looking back at the history of IT and specifically at the time when Microsoft started to challenge IBM, we see some analogies, in which Google is now in the role of Microsoft, and Microsoft in the role of IBM. However, whether Google will turn out to be the next Microsoft, or just another Netscape, remains to be seen.
On August 30th, 2005, Microsoft announced that it has acquired Teleo, a provider of VoIP software and services that enable people to place phone calls from PCs to traditional or mobile phones. Microsoft will combine the tools and the know-how of Teleo with Microsoft’s existing VoIP investments in MSN. But not only Microsoft is boosting its VoIP offering: Google has added VoIP features to Google Talk, while Yahoo bought Dialpad two months ago. But the market leader in VoIP is still Skype, and its software offers much more than what Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are currently offering. Furthermore, Skype has instant messaging and file sharing functions.
We expect Skype to receive several acquisition offers, particularly now that Microsoft has bought Teleo, and a (currently hypothetical) Google-Skype combination would be a giant force in the VoIP/IM software market. Perhaps that is even the reason why Google is extending its capital with an additional 4 billion USD via a secondary offering of stock.