Google has announced a team edition for its Google apps online software solutions. The Google apps suite so far includes:

Google Docs – Create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Google Calendar – Arrange meetings, set schedules, and publish event information.

Google Talk – Instant message with co-workers and make PC-to-PC voice calls for free.

Start Page – Preview your calendar and docs, add gadgets and search the web from one place.

Google is making it clear through this announcement that they are further expanding their online software activities, moving to business clients as well. Targets are now IT system administrators, ISPs and portals, non-profit organizations, schools. What I miss in their activities so far are very clear privacy protection statements ensuring that this data is indeed kept safely under lock and key, and not mixed with Google's search know-how. This also seems to be the major feedback in e.g. German IT portal discussion forums. The only thing I could read there was about privacy concerns. Looks like Google has a long, long way to go to do anything on a significant scale apart from its bread and butter search ad business. The latest Android mobile platform activity fits into the same category. Of course, Google has more than enough money to experiment with things practically forever. This might change, though, if Microsoft succeeds with its Yahoo! acquisition since then a more eye-level competitor would be created. Maybe a good development, actually, to prevent Google becoming another Microsoft in the end.