Google Releases New, Free Software
August 22, 2005
California search engine Google Inc. released new software Monday that could challenge Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
Known as Sidebar, the free program gives users a pane of customized information like weather forecasts, stock quotes, news headlines, text feeds from favorite Web sites, photo slideshows and e-mail alerts that sits alongside whatever else the user is viewing.
It provides some functions similar to Yahoo’s popular MyYahoo customized Web-page service, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Sidebar includes a text-editor function, which allows consumers to type and save text notes.