We don’t think it’s a competitor to Microsoft Office.”

–Google CEO Eric Schmidt on the company’s not-Office office suite, April 2007

Here’s a metric to consider: Google has announced more acquisitions in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006.

Today it announced one more. This morning the search juggernaut bought Postini for $625 million, making the communications security and compliance company its 14th acquisition in six months. That’s an acquisition every two weeks or so. Seems Google’s appetite for technology brainpower is nearly as insatiable as that of George Romero’s zombies.

Anyway … for Google the acquisition of Postini is an easy way to give heft to its hosted application business, using the company’s security software to bolster Web applications like Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets and Presentations for corporate use. “With this transaction, we’re reinforcing our commitment to delivering compelling hosted applications to businesses of all sizes,” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement. “With the addition of Postini, our apps are not just simple and appealing to users–they can also streamline the complex information security mandates within these organizations.”

Sounds like Google’s finally stopped pretending that the company doesn’t have designs on Microsoft’s core PC software business. About time, too.