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Since the IPO, it has become cool for tech pundits to atttempt to figure out what Google's next big endeavor will be. The latest, straight from Slashdot, explains how Google could utilize the open-source goodness of Jabber to create a viable alternative to other inferior messaging networks like AIM (popular to the US) and MSN (popular in various parts of Europe). As with most things on Slashdot, one must take this story with a pinch of salt. Just because I write that Google could make a Linux-based operating system that would kill Longhorn based on a combination of open-source goodness (something currently lacking in Google), amazing search technology, and a clean interface (more on this later) does not mean it will happen.

These thoughts running through my head, I read a few more blogs and then opened Mozilla Thunderbird to confirm a comment on Engadget. Skipping over a multitude of Dems-Talk messages, my eyes stopped at the newest message, delivered about a minute earlier. A Gmail invite, from Margaret.

Excited now, I clicked on the invite link to sign up. Even though I had read how the user interface was the best thing since carbonated milk, I was completely awestruck while using it. Since I did not have very many messages to read, my mind began to stray. What if Google used this clean interface, their brilliant search technology, and their philosophy of "Don't Do Evil" to change the computing world permanently? While Google crushed industry giants like Microsoft, we consumers could reap the profits of clean interfaces. More importantly, a benevolent Google (assuming that power would not corrupt Google) would care about the privacy of its users, not forcing them to use restrictive DRM schemes or locking them into a single operating system through shady OEM deals.

An evil Google, on the other hand, would be worse than Microsoft. There are at least two operating systems (OS X and Linux) that are comparable to Windows. Where is the search engine that can search as well as Google?