Larry Page, Google President and Co-founder, has announced a plan to offer users of Microsoft Windows XP some basic software, security and a variety of Web features. The product, called Google Pack, will help most users set up and maintain their machines in minutes rather than hours.

“Google Pack is quite exciting,” said Page during his keynote at the CES in Las Vegas on Friday. “It’s as easy as going to the Google home page.”

Forrester media and Internet analyst, Josh Bernoff immediately commented. “This is a direct action to challenge Microsoft: Google is saying we can manage the browser and other elements of the computer desktop experience better than you get now.”

Google has taken the unusual step of naming a bundle of preferred software, including security and Web service providers that will be part of its recommended feature-set for PCs.

Preferred software vendors include Symantec, Adobe, and RealNetworks. Google Pack launched with the following software downloads:

Adobe Reader 7
Ad-Aware SE Personal
GalleryPlayer HD Images
Google Desktop
Google Earth
Google Pack Screensaver
Google Picasa Photo Organizer/Editor
Google Talk
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Google Video player
Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar
Norton AntiVirus 2005 Special Edition
RealPlayer
Trillian .

It should be noted that the Google Video Player has now been taken from the list, but this may be temporary since the Video Store has not yet launched.

Yahoo News reports: “Highlighting the potential greater scope of Google’s plan, Page told reporters after this speech that Google considered including OpenOffice, a free suite of applications supported by Sun Microsystems Inc. that would compete directly with Microsoft’s Office software suite. Instead, Google elected to keep the first package of software small. A version of new Google video store for Apple’s Mac line of computers is coming too, Page said.”