Google took another large step toward complete world domination with its release last week of Buzz, a social networking application integrated in Gmail. The response was tepid, with many quick to point out Buzz's flaws rather than heralding its innovations.
Now, some bloggers are wondering aloud whether Google is having a "Microsoft moment" since several of its recent offerings - while greatly hyped - have fallen flat. We walk through some of Google's biggest releases, their promises, and their realities.
Gmail
Launched: April, 2004
After having conquered the search engine field, Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., tries its hand at the e-mail game, making considerable improvements to the base model used by most others. At first, the e-mail service was available on an invitation-only basis, and initial rave reviews sent many clamouring for an invitation. The company opened its gates to all in February, 2007, liberating millions from their embarrassing playboybunny69@hotmail.com and skidmark7187@yahoo.com addresses.
The promise: The speedy, algorithm-based search technology allows users to search through mountains of correspondence to find the exact message they were looking for. Its initial 1 GB storage limit (which has risen beyond 7 GB since) means you never have to delete another e-mail.
The reality: Gmail was a huge improvement over other Web-based services. Fast and organized, it allows users to become digital packrats. The downside: Getting over a break-up became impossible, since an innocent search for e-confirmation sent from an airline can dredge up communiqués from an ex (not to mention unresolved feelings).
Maps
Launched: February, 2005
Google's challenge to Yahoo! Maps and MapQuest came with a clean interface and precise directions. Google Maps one-upped its competitors later that year with the introduction of satellite images that allowed users to see a bird's-eye view of almost any location. A couple of years later, it rolled out the revolutionary Street View, which allowed users to virtually walk down the street from their computers.
The promise: Even the most directionally challenged should be able to get from his driveway to cousin Dimitri's cottage, with every last turn plotted out as well as an ETA.
The reality: Unfortunately, those ETAs are often left by the wayside as a search for a pizza place leaves you spending countless hours looking at neighbourhoods from the street, in terrain view and from space ("Look honey, it's our house!").
Docs
Launched: October, 2006
Traditional office software creates documents that hog hard-drive space and are at risk of vanishing forever in a computer crash. With Google's suite of Web-based programs, users can create, edit and share spreadsheets, word-processing documents, presentations and forms.
The promise: You can do your work from anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to the Internet. Instead of being greeted with a message saying "this document is locked for editing by user X," multiple users can collaborate simultaneously.
The reality: While it's great for the nomadic freelancer, many corporations are leery of their employees posting proprietary information on a remote server; the majority have carried on using Microsoft Office and the like. The few who persuaded their managers to let them use Google Docs to "work from home" use the system to prepare irritating PowerPoint-style presentations filled with photos of kittens collected from exhaustive Google Image searches.
Wave
Launched: September, 2009
What if e-mail was created today? That's the question Google set out to answer with Wave, a real-time collaboration tool. It was designed to make sharing messages and attachments with multiple users much simpler.
The promise: While traditional e-mail creates multiple, messy threads from forwarding and replying-all, Wave is meant to be the slick alternative. If you are online at the same time as others, you can watch their replies unfold in real time; if you are added as a contributor later in the game, you can "play back the wave" to see how content was added in sequence.
The reality: Finding it too complicated to figure out, many abandoned the overwhelming interface after a few failed attempts to make sense of it.
Buzz
Launched: February, 2010
The next e-titan Google decided to challenge? Facebook. By integrating Buzz into Gmail, the company already had a large base of users to tap into. Every time they log into their inbox, users are greeted with their contacts' status updates, posted items and shared content from Google's RSS reader. In turn, they can share content and musings with their network.
The promise: "Finding relevance in noise" is what Google set out to do with Buzz. The application is supposed to simplify sharing photos, videos and links with your closest contacts (determined by those you communicate with most through Gmail).
The reality: With more than 400 million users under its belt, Facebook is still the social network. While Buzz offers integration with YouTube, Flickr and Twitter, the fact that anything posted on Facebook also has to be shared separately on Buzz makes the application redundant in most users' lives.