GOOGLEVERSE

Google's mission to free it all

"Not content with conquering the Internet, Google continues to expand.
Google Apps (doc, ppt, mail, notebook...) are threatening Microsoft's desktop primacy.
Google Book Search is inhaling the world's great libraries.
Google's YouTube is short-circuiting Hollywood, bringing video from the masses to the masses.
Google Maps' Street View is peering to your windows.
Not to mention Google Health, Google Earth, and Google Mars.
Does all this make you want to crawl under your bed and call the authorities? Tough luck. With its acquisition of Internet switchboard operator GrandCentral, Google is about to take over your telephone too."
Retrieved from WIRED Geekipedia, p25 (Oct 2007. a supplement to WIRED)

Some companies are already switching their traditional apps to Google's free applications and server space, not bothering to install the on-the-shelves softwares, or worrying with memory or disk space. Considering that Skype had over 9 million people logged in and "phoning" when I was "conferencing" for free last Wednesday morning with people from Finland, Ethiopia, China, Spain, and South Africa, I wonder about the impact of a Google phone service onto the traditional service (ground line and wireless) or if it will be a similar hype or scare as when the first computer-to-computer phone communication was offered. Will it have a similar impact on the traditional communication business/economy as email threatened the post office? (real and unreal) or will it merely be a competitor to Skype and the like?