Just recently, Google has confirmed it is working on a desktop Linux project called Goobuntu, - a portmanteau of Google and Ubuntu.  Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available (including rights of Software Freedom) that comes with community and professional support.  Once installed, your system is immediately usable. You will have a full set of business productivity applications, Internet applications, drawing and graphics applications, and games.

We should not forget that prior to Goobuntu, Google is already offering services that most Internet users enjoy.  Some of them are:  Search, Groups, Images, News, Books, Video, Mobile, Froogle and more.  Of course there is still Google Pack which consists of Google Earth, Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, Ad-Aware SE Personal, Picasa, Screensaver, Google Talk, Mozilla Firefox, Norton Antivirus, and Adobe Reader 7.  Everything available from business and personal needs delivered right at your desktop, for FREE.

So why a Goobuntu operating system?  Because Google Tools still requires users to download the services.  Goobuntu provided the opportunity for Google to partner with hardware vendors to pre-install Goobuntu which may or may not include Google's other services.  Currently, testings are already ongoing between Google and Dell.  If everything goes according to plan, 100 million new Dell computers will be powered by Goobuntu which will include a Google Powered home page, Google Toolbar and Google desktop search. Hewlett-Packard, Gateway Inc.,  Sony Corp.,  Apple Computer Inc. and Toshiba Corp. are already partners of Google to distribute the Google Toolbar.  Imagine 100 million new Dell PCs with Google OS and Google services, no downloading needed.

So will history repeat itself?  Remember Microsoft gained prominence and fortune because of its operating system - MS DOS.  But it was a different playing field then, PC was just starting and Microsoft was at the right time and at the right place.  Today, thousands of I.T. companies - big and small are here offering their own expertise.  And the most important ingredient we have today is the Internet.  Dominance will not come as easy as it is when standalone PCs were just booming.

I do use most of Google's services, but I am more interested in its business strategy.  How can a company in the Internet Age compete with a giant like Microsoft and alike?  The answer: A clear and a well thought out plan and PATIENCE.  Google takes its move very carefully - step by step.  They studied online user's preferences and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of its competitor and combined them all to produce the Google Business Strategy.

Offering services for free has been done by other companies but has achieved minimal success.  Google build its brand and credibility first by providing a strong and reliable search engine.  Knowing that the number of websites worldwide will keep on growing, Google built an infrastructure to index them all and made them available to online users via a search engine.

After gathering the critical mass, Google executed its second step - offer P2P (Person to Person) services like email, IM, chat, shopping, groups, blogs, image and video sharing etc.  Bringing Google close to the users, deliver services closest to the users heart - personalization, network and communication.  The next agenda on the list - attack the enterprise market.  Google offered Code (database of APIs and open source codes), News, Translate (web pages in other languages), Maps, Google OpenOffice, Adsense, Mobile and Google Engines for enterprise usage.  Google made sure that their brand becomes a household name and offered services that will make the life of online users easier for free.

Having Goobuntu is like having MS-DOS then.  The big difference is Goobuntu is FREE.  Hardware manufacturers will likely to support Goobuntu more because it will bring their hardware prices down thus making them more competitive in the market, and still providing quality tools for free courtesy of Google.

Free services normally connote poor quality and services.  This no longer holds true with the Google services because Google has worked so hard to build that name.  Brand recognition is already in place.  It's like saying "If it's from Google - It must be Good - but definitely Free".  How can good quality and free service go wrong?  The fact that companies are reacting to every Google move is a clear manifestation that Google is doing something right and is headed to I.T. leadership.

So what's in the pipeline for Google to complete the puzzle?  Parallel Computing.  Google intends to turn the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid running on black fiber.  Google is reportedly building data centers powered by thousands of processors and petabytes of disk storage which can be installed anywhere Google owns access to fiber - thus resulting to a Google Internet.  Google Internet brings Google closer to users, reducing latency, redundancy and fault tolerance.  Google is preparing for the next wave of information - audio and video delivered not only to PCs but also to mobile devices.

Can companies like Microsoft and Yahoo compete with Google?  Maybe but it would be difficult.  As I've said, the foundations of Google's grand plan are already in place.  They have the reach and the resources and most of their offerings are built atop a network infrastructure (running clusters of tens of thousands of servers).    

All these developments will help make I.T. more exciting and will surely benefit all of us users.  I am particularly glad because I predicted that software will become a service this 2006.  I am glad that I am proven right so far, I just didn't expect that it would happen this early.

Am logging off.  Stay cool and God Bless us all!