The Portalization of Google

March 27, 2005 · by · in Search Engines

What’s left to complete the portalization of Google? It seems like in the past couple of months, they have significantly expanded the number of times I see Google-sourced content at the top of the search results list. Search for “Milwaukee weather” and get the current temperature and a four day forecast. Search for “Million Dollar Baby” and get showtimes, movie reviews and even a star rating (they even remember my zip code in a cookie). Search for an address and get Google maps. Combine this with Gmail and Froogle, and is there any reason to use either Yahoo or the shopbots? For me, Google is striking at the heart of those services’ value propositions.