Googling For Gold

Business Week reports, "With a market cap in orbit and more cash than a small nation, Google's heft is altering the tech industry's behavior. But when does its long-awaited shopping spree begin?"

I think not soon. To this moment, Google/GOOG has shied away from making the "big deal" -- their desire is to grow organically rather than via acquisition. Moreover, the GoogleGuys admire talent and aptitude as much as, if not more than, technology itself. All the pieces of the puzzle must fit to make a whole. So the company likely will continue to seek companies such as Riya, which was the talk of Silicon Valley last week. (This purchase has yet to occur, however.)

However, one item the story has wrong, at least in part, is that both Google/GOOG and Yahoo/YHOO now act as VCs; they fund, if not purchase, start-ups that are little more than technology and promise. This creates the potential for a tremendous amount of Internet-based creativity -- and thus change. Perhaps the semantic web finally could be around the corner, after all this time and anent its promise.