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If Google's mission is indeed to find, search through, sort, categorize, and provide/sell (or otherwise, via advertising, monetize) access to information - in short, to become both the repository and warehouse of the world's knowledge - then Google Base, "an early stage test of a product that enables content owners to easily send their content to Google," according to a Google spokeswoman, may be a good indication of the vast scope of its ultimate intent.

In the short term, the accidentally discovered Google Base test page is being interpreted by some, according to CNET, as the search giant's challenge - in the form of a combination classifieds listings and e-commerce site - to eBay and Craigslist. Google terms it a service that would allow people to post and make searchable any type of content.

A screenshot (see adjacent pic) of a page for Google Base gives examples of what can be posted: "description of your party planning service," "articles on current events from your Web site," "listing of your used car for sale" and "database of protein structures."

Terms of service give Google the right to "reproduce, modify, adapt, publish and otherwise use, with or without attribution" the content on the site for promotional purposes.

"Like our Web crawl and the recently released Google Sitemaps program, we are working to provide content owners an easy way to give us access to their content. We're continually exploring new opportunities to expand our offerings, but we don't have anything to announce at this time," a Google spokeswoman wrote in an email.