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Google is taking a page from Microsoft’s well-worn playbook for tech industry domination: Rather than just rolling out new products and features, the search giant is trying to win the hearts and minds of Web developers.

Earlier this week, Google introduced Google Talk instant messenger and an upgrade to Google Desktop Search, which adds a product called Sidebar that pulls data from the Net and serves up a personalized panel of information such as e-mail, stock quotes and news.

Both offerings, notably Sidebar, have the potential to lure away current Microsoft users, analysts said. But Google–in a technique perfected long ago at Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters–has made software developers an important target audience as well. As with nearly all its services, Google is supporting standards and providing hooks intended to let outside developers create add-on products.

Full article: C|net