Google has slowly but surely turned from a simple search engine into internet users' most popular destination.
There are scores of Google services ranging from desktop searching (which allows you to search your own hard drive), an excellent e-mail service, satellite mapping and, of course, their advertising products. Now it seems that Google is to challenge eBay and Microsoft with its latest offering: Google Base.
The service went live, if only for an hour or so, on Tuesday.
Global hard drive
It's hard to describe exactly what the service is as I wasn't quick enough to get to the test website, but I have been sent screenshots. From a first glance it seems to be a cross between eBay, the auctions website, and CraigsList, the online classified giant. But in reality it's more than that. It's most likely to become a global hard drive where you can store and search any piece of data.
The front page informs users that Google Base is: "Google's database into which you can add all types of content". The content that you could add could vary from a "description of your party planning service" to "listing of your used car for sale".
The potential for Google Base to compete with eBay is huge, it appears that customers will be able to post items for sale for free, as opposed to a fee-based service that is provided by eBay (they charge sellers an average of 7 per cent of their end sale price). It is also speculated that Google will launch a payments service when Google Base goes live. This will of course threaten the dominance of Paypal, the online payment mechanism owned by eBay.
By exploring deeper, my tipsters found a housing search engine where homeowners can advertise their properties for sale. This could ultimately be a direct challenge to websites such as Rightmove.co.uk and Primelocation.com who charge estate agents a fee to advertise properties.
The job-posting service that is included will have an impact not just on free listing sites such as CraigsLlist but also paid-for services such as Hotgroups, Monster and Workthing. It will however, be great for employers as it will save them the £300 it costs to post a job on Monster, the UK's leading service.
No more fat PCs
In my view, the biggest impact of Google Base will most likely be on Microsoft and PC manufacturers.
The threat is clear. You can upload your files, be they Word documents or Excel spreadsheets, directly to Google where you'll be able to make the files private so that you alone can view them. So there's not much point in investing in a massive hard drive, you can have unlimited storage space on Google Base and with the availability of broadband, you'll be able to access your files as quickly from Google's servers as you would from your own computer, from anywhere in the world.
Then once the files are stored on Google's servers, I doubt it will be long before Google's much-hinted-at browser will be launched. This will most likely allow you to edit the files directly with a web-based version of the main Microsoft Office programs. Crucially, you'll be able to create new documents meaning there's no need at all for Microsoft's expensive suite of desktop applications.
This is all good news for small businesses, as the developments will probably herald the rise of sub-$100 PCs with a stripped down specification that is optimised for broadband surfing. There will be no need for licences of expensive programs, intranets (because you'll be able to share the files on Google Base) and you'll probably be able to dump your in-house techie, too, as the whole experience will be pure plug-and-play.
However, there's always a downside. We'll just slip into a new monopoly situation where we're using Google instead of Microsoft. Perhaps, as our reliance on their suite of free applications rises, they'll slowly but surely start to charge us, maybe even per use. Unfortunately, if we have slimmed-down PCs optimised for Google we'll be tied in, our documents will be locked into their servers, and we may have to pay hand-over-fist to access our own information. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.
