Google more than just a search engine

When you think about Google, what comes to mind? The most frequent answer would be a search engine.

But the Mountain View, Calif., company has come a long way since launching its search engine back in 1998. It's hard to browse the Internet without wandering onto something that's controlled by Google.

Even as I write this column, I have several different Google products in use: Google Docs to write the column, Google Chrome as my Web browser, Gmail as my e-mail client and Google Voice to chat with friends.

Incorporated in 1998, Google found its way into the everyday life of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

I want to take a look at just a few of the products that Google has made mainstream in the past few years, and even some things that are in the early development stages right now.

Back in 2004, Google tried a strategy to test out a product to the public while gathering hype for it as well. This strategy was to release Gmail as an invitation-only product.

By doing this, demand for Gmail invites was huge.

People would pay large amounts of money on eBay for a chance to grab up a Gmail invitation.

I was lucky enough to grab an invite before it was open to the public, so I've been using Gmail for years and can easily say it is the best e-mail system open to the public right now.

Another innovation is Google Docs. It's a free browser-based set of word processing, presentation, spreadsheet and form applications that are comparable to the Office suite of products. Docs offers a system of file and folder sharing that's organized in a manner similar to Gmail.

It allows users to store their documents on Google servers instead of their own computers and then access those documents from any computer they're using.

Docs is such a convenient product, I personally have stopped using other word processors and only use Google Docs for anything from taking notes in class to writing these columns for The Rocket.

Google isn't just all Web content. As of late, it's begun to introduce operating systems and stand-alone native desktop applications as well.

For anyone that uses cell phones, Google's Android operating system has become a very formidable opponent in the cell phone battles that have emerged.

In my last column, I discussed the iPhone and how it's changed the way people use phones. Well, Android is in that same category.

Not only has it introduced its own innovations, its presence alone makes Apple stand up to improve the iPhone.

The nice thing about Android is that it's not limited to one phone.

Think of Windows being installed on computers like Dells and HPs. Android is the same thing, only for mobile phones-and not as horrible to use as Windows.

Android has started gaining on the leading cell phone manufacturers and continues to improve with every update.

For the desktop experience, Google released several products over the past few years.

In 2008, the Google Chrome Web browser was introduced. Chrome is based on the WebKit layout engine, which was originally developed by a group of companies, including Apple, to be used for Apple's Safari Web browser.

By utilizing WebKit, as well as other Web codes used, Chrome is a browser on the cutting edge and has taken third place in worldwide Internet browser usage after being released for Mac OS and Linux in late 2009.

In addition to Chrome, Google has a slew of other desktop applications that include Google Earth, Picasa-which is a photo sharing application-a stand-alone Google Desktop application, as well as several others.

Taking a look into the future, Google has a lot to offer.

To start, it's currently working on an operating system based on its Chrome Operating system.

Based on Linux, Chrome OS is designed to be simple.

It'll take up minimal space on a hard drive, which will make it ideal for netbooks or smaller notebooks.

Another product on the Google horizon is Google Goggles, a mobile phone application that utilizes the phone's camera to take an image and then return relevant search results about the image that the user sent.

For example, let's say you're visiting the town of Richmond, Va., and you want to know more about the town.

All you'd have to do is take a picture of a sign or monument in Richmond, send it to Google Goggles and wait for the search to send back the information.

It's impossible to mention all of the products that Google has come up with in just one column because this has just been a highlight package.

I've not even mentioned Google AdSense for businesses to advertise on the Web, Google Checkout for people to easily purchase items on a large amount of Web sites, Google Maps for navigation, Google Scholar for searching scholarly articles and even YouTube was not mentioned in this column.

I've used all of these products to at least some degree, and I'm sure you have as well. Google continues to innovate and create new software and products that make using the Internet easier everyday.