Once upon a time, venture capitalists would avoid software startups that looked likely to compete at some point with Microsoft. It's now Google, the new tech power, that is having the chilling effect. The search engine's online calendar has deadened the buzz around 30 Boxes and Trumba. Mountain View's inhouse blog search, however flawed, has prompted questions about Technorati's future. And the new personalization options on Google Maps, which allow users to create their own annotated city guides, for instance, cut the legs from under startups such as Platial and Community Walk. (Any Google victims that we're missing? Let us know.) The irony: Google encouraged the development of both those companies by making it so easy for outsiders to plug data into Google Maps. The Google giveth; it taketh away.