What Could Google Be?

• Aug. 26, 2004

A couple of days ago I wrote an article speculating on what Google could do now that they have raised so much money.
 
 Last night I came across another article speculating on other things they could do, based on some recent hirings they have done.
 
 It seems that Google has been hiring away top level developers from Microsoft's XML division and Sun's Java division. The article goes on to say that speculation is that these guys may work on a web enabled browser based, OS independent network computing system.
 
 What that means is that every application you may need could one day be web based. All you would need is a computer with web access and you could connect to your own Google flavored word processor, or Google based spreadsheet. If you want to listen to music, you could connect to your Google media player, and of course all your files would be securely stored on the Google network.
 
 This isn't much of stretch really. Many of these types of applications are already web based. The open source community has been working for a long time on such web apps. Microsoft already has, or is also working on, web based versions of its most popular applications.
 
 But imagine the power you would have. Utilizing just a small part of the Google network, you could calculate your monster spreadsheets in a fraction of the time it takes to do on your desktop.
 
 Did you write a big proposal or presentation on the road, and now your laptop is in your hotel room? With the Google based word processor, simply store it on the Google network and retrieve from any computer with an internet connection.
 
 Of course these services will either be free (and subsidized by Google AdWords) or there will be a small subscription fee. I tend to think they will be free in basic form.
 
 Another reason this wouldn't be too much of a stretch is that Google already has a huge network which essentially acts as one big computer. Thousands of servers geographically dispersed yet all acting in tandem to serve up the various Google offerings. To throw a few thousand more servers at a web based application like this wouldn't be difficult for them.
 
 This may still be a few years down the road, but it is a reality.
 
 Which leads to the question - If Google does this, what will the others do?
 
 Rob Sullivan
 Production Manager
 Searchengineposition.com
 Enquiro.com