Google has swapped out its main Groups service with a beta of Google Groups 2, which the search giant has been testing since last May. Users who click the "Groups" link on the Google homepage will be redirected to the beta offering that promises enhanced features and focuses on community building.

In fashion with MSN's Communities and Yahoo!'s Groups, Google Groups 2 allows users to design their own group Web sites, mailing lists and newsletters. Users can designate whether a group is public or restricted, which limits who can read or respond to conversations.

Building upon its more than 1 billion post Usenet archive, Google says conversations to both user-created Google Groups lists and Usenet appear within seconds and are searchable within minutes.

"Thank you, all, for testing Google Groups while the product was on Google Labs and providing detailed feedback," the Google Groups Team wrote in a message to testers. "Over the past few weeks we have rolled out several updates and changes to Google Groups, many based on the threads posted in this group."

Despite the flashy new interface, topic tracking and e-mail notification, the changes have not come without gripes from some Google Groups users fretting over missing features. Advanced searching by date range has been eliminated in the beta, along with the ability to link to a specific post within a Usenet discussion thread.

Google Groups 2 contains no graphical or pop-up ads, but is party to a modified version of the controversial Gmail advertising model. Targeted text ads are displayed to customers based upon searches or content on the page.