After taking on Microsoft Word with Writely, Google may have set their eyes on Microsoft OneNote - the digital note taking software. When I first read about Google Notebook, I thought Google is preparing an alternative to Windows Live Onfolio for managing web document. But with a closer look at GNotebook - it may not just be the Onfolio addon, Google may actually be looking to grab a pie of Microsoft OneNote marketshare.
During the Google Notebook demo, Google showed an example of shopping for shoes, saving a certain pair and writing a note about it, then sending it to friends. The product is also integrated with Google Desktop 4.
Just like Microsoft OneNote, people can capture text and pictures from Web sites and paste them into Google Notebook, as well as make the notebook full-screen size, drag and drop items to reorganize them, and e-mail the notebook to others using GMail.
It is also interesting to note that (until now) Microsoft OneNote has no real competition except EverNote which is free.
One may argue that OneNote has support for handwritten notes, scanned documents, and audio recordings - Yes, Google Notebook is definitely not as advanced as OneNote 2007 but again, for casual non-TabletPC users (who can't afford the $100 OneNote software), GN may just solve the purpose.
Google Notebook software is not to be confused with the Google Spiral Paper Notebook that's available on the Google Store.