At the end of April 2008, Google (the same web site that you use to search for the nearest grocery store and movie show times or to learn more about a company and its products) launched Google Health. Google's intent is to help users of the service store and manage all their health information in one place and for free. Their only requirement: you need to have a Google username and password.

Having used and followed Google for many years, I decided to test-drive the service. Initially, I was a...