[+/-] Google creating a browser?

Google, $1.67 billion richer from its August initial public offering, is spending its money poaching the brightest minds from arch-rival Microsoft and other tech giants.

Based on the half-dozen hires in recent weeks, Google appears to be planning to launch its own Web browser and other software products to challenge Microsoft. Google has wooed:

1. Joshua Bloch, one of the lead developers of Java, from Sun Microsystems.
2. Adam Bosworth, most recently from BEA Systems, who was a driving force behind IE and Microsoft Access
3. Joe Beda, a lead developer on Avalon, Microsoft's code name for the user interface that will part of the next version of Windows, called Longhorn.

The browser rumor is supported by other clues as well. Last month, Google hosted Mozilla Developer Day on its campus, a gathering of programmers that work together to build sequels to the re-named Netscape browser. Mozilla, which is "open source" and available to anyone, could be shaped to Google's specifications and be embedded with Google search, Gmail free e-mail and other Google applications.