Google Base – What’s the real plan?

Warning: not auto related!

There’s been a lot of speculation about what Google Base is really all about. Ideas abound. An Ebay killer? A Craigslist killer? Some people seem to think that it’s just a ploy to get you to categorize your content for them so their search results will be more accurate.

I think Microsoft should be worried. But not for the reasons you might think.

Why do you really need your computer? Not the keyboard, mouse and monitor; that’s obvious. Why do you need a CPU and hard drive?

You don’t. Not if Google has free data storage and a massive computing infrastructure.

If Google has a central computer and your data is stored on it, you don’t need a computer. You only need a way to access Google. Google Base could be the first step toward this. Imagine – all your information and software accessible from any terminal in the world, as long as it has access to Google.

Software purchases would be instantaneous. Google would already be hosting the software; when you purchase it that door would be unlocked to you and you would instantly have access to that piece of software.

The big reason Microsoft should be worried is that nobody will need an operating system. No more Windows XP.

Perhaps we should all be cheering.