On my feeds over the last couple of days I’ve seen a few references to a new buzzword: Fear of Google (FOG). It would seem there’s a few folk over Stateside that feel the Google is the new Microsoft.

Now I can see their concern, to a point. Google has had rapid growth over recent years, and I believe they have taken the lead from Microsoft in the innovation front – think Gmail, Google Earth, Maps, Reader and SketchUp to name a few. Microsoft have Hotmail, Microsoft Virtual Earth and Popfly.

Now Popfly isn’t released yet, but seems like it might have some cool potential there. Comparing the two company’s they have similar offerings but is it me, or do Google’s seem to be more popular? When it comes to web applications then is Google the new Apple?

I don’t know, maybe I still buy the whole “Do no evil” thing.

There’s an ad campaign here in the UK at the moment from ask.com where they are trying to brand themselves as “the other search engine”. How many people use Google as there search engine out of habit? What search engine would you use if you didn’t use Google?

Personally I like the Google home page, it’s crisp and clean of clutter. I find the Yahoo Home Page too cluttered.

Now we all know I’m no coder, and I’m so busy with automation and build stuff, or Linux stuff that I don’t usually get chance to play with “cool” stuff, but I have to say Google Sketchup is pretty damn cool!

The LFM House in Sketchup:

[edit]
Updated this morning to finish the MS Vs Google application comparison. I wrote this late last night, and completely missed that I hadn’t finished the thought. Obviously not a good idea to post when you’re tired ;)