Google has done it again. Get ready for the latest cool Web product from the software giant. They have retools JotSpot as an application called Google Sites, a free alternative to Microsoft’s SharePoint or IBM’s Lotus applications. Google acquired wiki software maker JotSpot in October 2006 and the world has since been waiting for Google to rationalize JotSpot’s assets and put them in front of the public. The wait is over. Google, on Feb. 28, introduced Google Sites, a free wiki application that lets users with little or no technical know-how create a Web site, intranet or virtual classroom where knowledge workers or students can share information and collaborate on projects.

Users sign up by verifying their business or school e-mail addresses, and can then invite others to join or find people within their organization already using Google Apps.
Users can upload a variety of content to the Web site, which is managed by the site creator within a workgroup or classroom, and invite other users to access it. Content can include videos from YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Docs presentations and attachments. Any user within the group or classroom can edit the content, provided he or she is given permission by the site creator. While JotSpot lacked quality search, Google has integrated its search capabilities into Google Sites, rendering all content instantly searchable.

Google Sites will compete with wikis from Socialtext, Atlassian, Traction Software and a slew of other providers. It could also serve as a free alternative to collaboration products such as Microsoft’s SharePoint and IBM’s Lotus Quickr.

As with most build you own Web Applications the templates are fairly limited. From a Web Designer perspective, this bugs me, however; Google will probably build out a better variety or let you use a CSS in the product over time.