Google buys a home and specialises in government

In its latest foray into specialty search areas, Google has launched a site called US Government Search at http://usgov.google.com. Although the site reportedly aims to make finding information easier lfor US federal, state and local government employees, the information should also prove to be useful for the general public.

Much has been made of potential competition between usgov.google.com and the already well established site Firstgov.gov, which is powered by MSN. However, at first glance the sites appear to be as different to the home pages of Google and Yahoo.

While the Google site has the trademark spartan search engine interface, the Firstgov.com home page has the characteristics of an information portal with all the associated clutter of rich content. For this reason. those looking to do a quick search for government information are likely to visit the new Google site just like they tend to do in the wider non-government world.

While it is busily launching new specialty search sites, Google has apparently been doing a bit of soul searching about what to do with all the cash it has in the bank. As a result, the search company is about to make a US$319 million withdrawal in order to acquire its currently rented Silicon Valley headquarters in Mountain View known as the Googleplex.