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Google has been on a role as of late. The company, just this year, has: launched Gmail, filed for its IPO, redesigned Blogger.com, added a slew of functions to their search options, began including images into their ad program, and now has launched its redesign/re-imagining of Google Groups. It's obviously been a busy year.

Google Groups relaunched yesterday, May 12, 2004, and is currently in the beta stage. This newest incarnation is reminiscent of the format that Yahoo Groups uses.

As first reported by ResourceShelf, Google Groups, instead of being solely devoted to Usenet groups, "now allows you to create your own e-mail based group. This is a service that Yahoo has offered for a long time." A list, from the Google Groups about page, lists the new features:

"As always, Google Groups never displays pop-ups or banner ads. You see only relevant text ads of interest."

A quote from SearchEngineJournal.com may shed some light in the direction that Google is heading: "Google has joined Yahoo (and continues to become a portal) with a new "groups" service (beta, of course)."

Considering that Google does not want to be known as a portal, one wonders if it'll continue adding portal-like features or if they will allow a plateau.

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