New Google Service

Good news! Google has stepped up its services, probably in an effort to edge out the new Clusty search engine and, to a limited extent, Amazon.com (only in the way that Amazon allows you to run searches that will scour the text of their books). According to a Reuters news article, Google will now be offering a service called Google Print.

Apparently, if you keep using Google as your search engine, you will start to notice books appearing in your searches. This doesn't so much compete with Amazon.com, but instead is only a service for your searches. In other words, this does not mean that Google is going to actually sell the books. The Google Print site probably says it best:

Finding books is easy. Just do your usual searches on Google and whenever a book contains content that matches your search terms, we'll show that book in your search results. Click on the book title and you'll see the page of the book containing your search terms and other information about the book. Click on the "Buy this Book" link and you'll go straight to an online bookstore where you can purchase the book.

You will not, however, be able to read entire books through this service:

Google Print is designed to help you discover books, not read them from start to finish. It's like going to a bookstore and browsing – only with a Google twist. Google searches across entire books in order to find the pages that are most relevant to your search. Once you're on a book page, you can 'flip' two pages forward and back, view other information about the book and even conduct another search within the book.

So, fortunately, we do not need to worry about Google's downfall. I will therefore be able to sleep well tonight.