Just heard the news tonight - IBM to pipe Google gadgets into company sites according to Reuters/Yahoo:

"…By allowing Google Gadgets to work within its WebSphere Portal, IBM is making it easier for companies to give employees access to popular Web applications while keeping control over how they are used. Companies can decide which Google Gadgets they can see."

Ok, this is how I envision this partnership:   I log into my W3 page while at IBM and I get a whole bunch of Widgets that are merged into the Intranet applications running internally ….and so do a lot of other companies running Websphere Portal Server.

So.. the question is ….. why can't anyone, today, go out and get any Widget themselves and place it on most pages they have some control over?   It's not about the Widget's so much, it's the hybrid applications that will come into being down the line:

"…Beyond the novelty of running Google Gadgets on corporate networks, the IBM-Google deal lays a foundation for IBM to deliver hybrid applications that infuse consumer ease of use into existing business applications, Bowden said."

Should be interesting.