Ever see a Google ad before?

In a rare advertising foray, Internet ad darling Google has harnessed the antique 3,000-year-old medium of billboards to push Google Apps. It's targeting traffic-stalled, mind-wandering commuters in New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco seeking corporate converts, apostates from the Microsoft and IBM religions.

The "Going Google" ads will change every weekday during the next month.

Google claims 1.75 million businesses, schools and government agencies have signed up for Google Apps, with 3,000 more coming on every day, though many more have been scared off at the thought of their data being on Google's servers or by the recent flush of cloud blackouts. And it's unclear if "signed up for" means gone cold turkey on Office.

Google's also set up a Firefox-like "Spread the Word" web site so converts can evangelize Google Apps at their workplace.

See https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/go-google/.