Google to Help Build Web Sites

Typically, if you were looking for a particular Web site, you'd 'Google' it. However Google is looking beyond in that it now wants to help you 'build' Web sites as well. Today, the company is debuting a free service that promises users a simple way to share information with others -- those who're working in the same company, or attending the same class in school.
Commenting on the service, Dave Girouard, general manager of the division overseeing it, said, "We are literally adding an edit button to the Web.

" That's how Google is envisaging its new service. According to Girouard, the service will enable just about anyone to set up and update a Web site with just a few clicks. What's more, the Web sites created in this way will feature a wide array of pictures, calendars, and videos from Google's YouTube video-sharing Web site. Meanwhile, the concept of helping users build Web sites isn't entirely new to Google. The search giant inherited a couple of Web site building tools when it acquired Silicon Valley-based start-up, JotSpot last year. Besides, it has also been gradually ramping up the number of free applications it offers to consumers and businesses in the past two years or so.

The Web site building tools in general, and the service debuting today in particular are simply add-ons to Google's ongoing efforts at siphoning away revenues from Microsoft, which makes the most of its moolah from software sales. Incidentally, the service being introduced today happens to be an alternative to a similar service dubbed 'SharePoint', that Microsoft plans to debut soon at a conference in Seattle. 'SharePoint' of course, will charge licensing fees. And, like most other Microsoft programs, it will be installed on individual computers.

By contrast, Google prefers to install its programs on its own machines for users to access them from anywhere. Whether Google debuts its new service or not, Microsoft has made no bones about wanting to get even with the search giant. The recent bid for Yahoo! (which of course Yahoo! rejected) is a case in point. Meanwhile, Microsoft has made it clear that it doesn't intend giving up on that offer.