Next on Google's to-do list: Microsoft? Perhaps the most glaring omission from Google's remarkable "owner's manual" for its initial public offering, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, is that the company, operator of the leading search engine, gave prospective investors virtually no hint of where it was headed. Clearly, one of Google's principal challenges will be how well it can defend itself when competitors like Microsoft or Yahoo begin copying its computing system and offering similar services.

The sheer scale of the Google computer system, however, as well as the backgrounds and passions of the elite group of computer scientists and engineers that is its top management team, suggests that while Microsoft may want to be the next Google, the Web search company has its own still-secret plans to become the next Microsoft. Google has already surprised Microsoft with its ability to quickly develop services, like its recently announced Gmail electronic mail, that will invade Microsoft's territory. Because Google is so secretive, there is no direct evidence of what those services might be, but it is certain that Google intends to extend information-searching in many directions: mobile applications for wireless gadgets, more effective online shopping, and social networking are all obvious applications of its technology.