For good or evil, Google grows

**For good or evil, Google grows -** 06-20-2006, 02:52 PM

It's no secret that Google, while trying to respect its corporate mantra of "do no evil," has its eye on ruling the world.

Whether total world domination is an evil ambition or not, that's a matter of opinion. Personally, I have a soft spot for benevolent dictators — online or otherwise — when all they want to do is give the masses free stuff.

But it's becoming clear there's not much in the technology universe that Google isn't willing to touch, and it's intriguing to watch its business "plan" get thrown against the computer screen to see what falls and what sticks.

With an $8 billion (U.S.) cash war chest and plans to raise another $2 billion, Google is half online advertising leviathan and half dabbler.

Long crowned as the Internet's most popular search engine company, Google now offers free Web email (http://www.gmail.com), a tool for analysing traffic on blogs and Web sites (http://www.google.com/analytics), and software that extends Google's online search features to a person's personal computer (http://www.googledesktop.com).

It now offers Internet voice service through instant messaging, has bought unused "dark" fibre to support a secret telecom strategy, and work with San Francisco on municipal Wi-Fi could — if you believe the speculation — evolve into a U.S.-wide broadband wireless initiative offering free high-speed Internet access to all.

You've also got Google Base (http://www.googlebase.com), which lets people who don't have their own website or blog upload documents, pictures and other content to the Web where it can be searched.

There's a new search engine for video, called Google Video (video.google.com). And there's Google News (news.google.com), which is scaring the ... ahem, pulp out of mainstream newspapers and magazines by aggregating all articles and allowing them to be searched by keyword.

Did I forget the 3D satellite-mapping service Google Earth (http://www.googleearth.com)? Sure, it costs money if you want the premium version, but for many the free version does the trick. And there's Google Maps (http://www.googlemaps.com), which beats the pants out of MapQuest by blending satellite imaging with street maps to create an uber-map — a pizza delivery driver's dream come true.

My latest favourite? Google recently launched the beta version of Google Finance (http://www.googlefinance.com), which competes directly against Yahoo Finance and a slew of other online finance sites. But Google has introduced a few cool twists.

For one, the stock chart of companies can be moved forward or backward in time by simply clicking and dragging the chart, similar to the way maps on Google Maps can be moved. What's interesting is that Google correlates points in time on that stock chart to the date certain news or press releases come out.

For example, if you drag the chart back three months, the list of news headlines beside the chart will automatically adjust to that point in time, allowing users to see in one view what news event might have caused a spike or plunge in a particular stock's price.

Google also lists blog entries that mention any companies being tracked, complementing hard news and company statements with speculation and opinion. On the same page, all financial information about the company is conveniently within view, alongside a list of senior management.

Scroll over specific names and you'll sometimes get the person's age, length of time in position, and links that provide information about executive compensation. Sometimes a picture of the executive will be provided.

I say "sometimes" because this is a beta version. I'd expect the information to become more complete as Google fine tunes the service.

As an added bonus, Google Finance will remember companies you search and keep track of the 12 stocks you most regularly monitor, not only maintaining a handy list of those companies and their daily market performances, but also updating you on any news related to them.

So where's Google heading with this and the dozens of other products — real or experimental — it has unleashed online?

You've got to wonder whether the company even knows the answer to that question.

Is there a master plan — a grand design — or is this just a case of throwing out the dots and connecting them later like constellations in the sky?

Google's rivals such as Yahoo and Microsoft must be frustrated.

Like chess champions, they're more vulnerable playing against someone whose moves are unpredictable and disconnected, detached from the methodical planning behind most traditional business models.

Say what you want about Google, but for a company that swears to do no evil it has all the complexity and mystery of an evil villain genius.