All the buzz online yesterday (and a good deal of the buzz so far today) was about Google's big announcement that they were entering the operating system market with Chrome OS, but since Chrome OS hasn't been released yet, it's interesting to think about why Google announced something (the second big announcement like this since Google Wave) that isn't ready yet. The clear answer to this is that in Google's big chess game with Microsoft, the search giant is beginning to feel some threat and pressure from Microsoft's new venture into search, Bing, and so Google is scrambling to announce things that will shake up Microsoft in the same way that Bing has shaken Google.

While some of you may laugh at this as a preposterous take on things, keep in mind two other bits of news that surfaced in the past day. First, David Pogue of the New York Times wrote a review of Bing, noting that Bing often does Google one better with its search results. That's both a good review and high profile praise from a mainstream publication that reaches out nicely to all the masses, not just those of us who are hyper-interested in surfing the web. The second bit of news comes from Mashable, who point out that according to Compete numbers, Bing is already bigger than Twitter, Digg, and CNN in terms of unique visitors.

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