One of my predictions this year (#2) focused on Google becoming a software brand. To my mind, every interaction with a brand strengthens a consumer's understanding of what the brand means. And with that in mind, this dialog box, which has been popping up every so often on my desktop, certainly screams "Google is a software brand" to me.

In the past, just two other companies have had this kind of a relationship with me: Apple and Microsoft. Whenever those dialogs pop up on my desktop, they're reminding me "Apple and Microsoft are software brands". Add Google to the list - and scratch "search, and only search" from its list of brand attributes.