Time to buy Google
I started this post on 4/6/2008. I saved it as a draft and never completed it. I thought it was interesting that Google continues to make moves to enhance this argument.
This reminds me of when there was a war in the online auction space. Of course, there was Ebay. After Ebay there were a number of also rans. I actually liked the fractured environment since bargains were more abundant. The smaller auction sites weren’t just p2p exchanges, they actually sold the goods. Perhaps that was the big mistake. Perhaps they needed to do that so that there was some action in their market place….. UNFINISHED DRAFT
The chart of Google (GOOG) from 4/6/2008 through today.
Not a bad return. From $479 to $571.
By the way, I have to mention that the Yahoo Finance Interactive Charts are really, really good.  This will keep me as a Yahoo Finance user. Now if Yahoo could just find a good way to leverage (monetize) their huge base of Finance users.
Google Docs Offline Now Live?
I was in Google Docs today and noticed a new menu item as I was closing my browser tab. Looks like Google gears is getting put to use.
After clicking on the offline tab (menu item above) the steps below followed
After agreeing to the terms and the install, Google Docs does a scan for new documents much like programs like Picasa do.
They were even kind enough to create a desktop shorcut for me
There was a message near the top of the screen stating that Google was synchonizing my documents. The message disappeared when complete. That is it, Big Brother is officially in my system!
Once complete, there is an “online” indicator in my browser much like what you might be used to seeing in Gmail when someone who is in your contacts list is online.
The offline experience is nearly identical. There is hardly a difference in speed use, etc. It runs right through my browser just as the online Docs do. Pretty seamless.
What are your thoughts about the desktop war? Is it on with the OS? Is Android the a foray into the OS space? If you were building an OS today, would you start with something big and clunky, or would you create a super thin platform and open it up to developers? Say… a cell phone O.S. for starters??
The battle has been on for a while. Microsoft must be pulling their hair out! Well, not Ballmer, but others.