Today, apparently trying to one up the MS Spaces launch or at least get some air time, Google launched a new Groups. I'm finding it very interesting how since Google went public they feel this need to compete with MS so strongly and launch all these new services. But they only do it half way because now 4 of 6 Google services are Beta.

And for a quick reality check let's look at the numbers through Sept 2004:

Google
Revenue: 2 Billion
Net Income: 195 Million

MS
Revenue: 27 Billion
Net Income: 7.7 Billion

Still a little ways off. It seems to me they should be spending a little less time on beta's they're not really committed to and start improving their core product. Nobody's heard squat about them actually improving search results in years and if they're not careful MS will sneak up behind them and take over the core product. Google isn't going to bring on the next wave of internet wonder with blogging services or groups. They need to stay focused on search. These other things are just distractions. What ever happened to the Google API for instance? It comes out one day then nothing. Not one improvement, no more features, not even the launch of a commercial version just nothing. And now that MS has gotten their act together and is starting to turn the PR around a bit watch out (yes I think the bloggers at MS like Scoble are having a big impact. See the sneezers reference below. People like Scoble understand who the sneezers are. If the rest of MS figures it out, Google and alot of other companies are in trouble).