Over the past twelve years Google Inc. has expanded from a research project to one of the world’s most successful online corporations. Part of Google’s philosophy is, “It’s best to do one thing really, really, well,” and “You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.” Google has already done upheld the first promise with searching the internet, and they continue to pursue perfecting the second statement as well. The company’s services have expanded to include blogging, shopping, getting directions, and watching videos: now Google wants to bring these services to your cell phone while making it cheaper for everyone.
Introduction
Google was formed by two guys who didn’t like each other very much when they met, but when they started working together on a college research project they found a way to renovate the internet. Google has continued to provide applications and tools to make using the internet more convenient, bringing the power of their search engine to cell phones. Some of their services are controversial, but all of them are useful when applied in the right way. Google has continued to change how the internet is used and make it more accessible and useful. They’ve protected the rights of those who use the internet and are working to come up with new technologies to protect the planet. Next Google hopes to change the cell phone industry, and not in the way that the experts expected.
Research Methods
In order to write an effective profile about Google, I performed the following research:
1. I researched Google’s background by reading articles in journals and magazines (found via online databases such as Business Source Premiere), blogs (written by financial and technological experts), and information from the Google website and its affiliates. I looked for books at the library about the company, but because this research and analysis is based on current events I found that they were outdated or inapplicable to Google’s newest developments.
2. I identified what Google has accomplished as a company:
~ Two students performed a research project for a college course and decided to try putting it into practice.
~ As a new company Google revolutionized online searching and, later, what tools are available to internet surfers.
~ Google is continuing to expand its focus and goals to meet the world’s rapidly changing needs (more specifically, the information and technology explosion of the past decade).
3. I researched three of the projects that Google is currently working on in hopes of creating a better world. The most helpful resources were the official website and blog, as well as technical/computer related magazine articles and blogs.
History
Google, like many companies, is always changing to meet the needs of its consumers, but they are always at the forefront of adapting new technology to better pursue this goal. The company’s roots are embedded in working together despite differences of opinion to create something better than what the world already has to work with. In January 1996, two students at Stanford University—Larry Page and Sergey Brin—began designing a new type of internet search engine for a class project. The search engines of the day searched pages based on how many times keywords were found on a page; Page’s system was based on a mathematic graph of what pages were linked to other pages. He realized that for a webpage to be linked to another one that someone has to type the url into the html code and that person is only going to link to pages that are helpful.
Adapting the technology of the day, he and Brin began the project BackRub, which mapped the internet through back links, and eventually decided to try to sell the technology as a new type of search engine. Using funding from a National Science Foundation grant, the partners built their servers using discounted personal computers that used a Linux platform. Page and Brin didn’t find anyone to buy their search engine (now nicknamed Google), but they did find someone to back it financially in 1998. They quickly outgrew their garage (10,000 hits a day in September 1998), as well as the the Palo Alto, California, office (500,000 hits a day in February 1999) and moved into their new corporate headquarter in June 1999.
By September 1999 Google was used for over 3 million searches a day and had moved out of Beta: the search engine quickly became a household name and exploded in popularity. Over the next few years Google added the ability to search on a wireless device, in other languages, and changed the way ads work on the internet. Unlike other search providers and homepages, Google isn’t overwhelmed by images and ads: everything is text based and streamlined for faster loading, and all the advertisements are related to your search. The company developed a search bar that’s built into your browser, and by the end of 2000 Google fielded 100 Million searches a day.
Since then Google has made it possible to search for images, shop mail-order catalogs online, and later to search for the best price online. They acquired Blogspot.com and YouTube, started a free e-mail service, began mapping Earth with satellite imagery, and provided an easy way to search for a business or address, then find out how to get there on a map. There is an official blog to keep up with all the changes that are around the corner and anyone can personalize the homepage to suit their own individual needs.
Discussion
Not everyone is thrilled with some of the services Google is providing on the internet: Manes claims: “Google's search results pages (but not the home page) included an item called ‘Web History.’ I quickly discovered that this meant Google was keeping track of my personal surfing -- not just my searching,” and laments:
Google has separate terms of service and privacy policies, plus bonus policies for individual services. These tend to be vague and puzzling -- except for the stern disclaimers by which Google basically denies responsibility for anything, as in the warning that “you use the Services at your own risk.”My subsequent research led me to Google Web History, but I discovered that one must purposefully sign in to your account to activate the feature… you don’t automatically start using the feature, and the features are clearly outlined on the log in page. One could activate it if he weren’t paying attention, but that isn’t Google’s fault. Their privacy policy is easy to find and informs you how to opt out of the service.
The feature that Manes laments has been embraced by others, such as Chitu, who comments: “Of course, such a service would cause a big debate regarding privacy and trust, so it will be disabled by default.” He points out that the service is a logical evolution of programs such as Google Desktop, which, again, must be purposefully downloaded and has terms of service that are agreed to before one starts to use it. Manes might have felt more at ease had he realized that Google has a policy “to anonymize our server logs after 18 to 24 months” and in the past resisted (and overcame) a government subpoena “demanding disclosure of two full months’ worth of search queries that Google received from its users”… but maybe not.
Another common complaint is that Google Earth and Google Maps satellite images show too much detail. Supporters of these features notice that Google Earth helped the Air Force save lives after Hurricane Katrina by providing up to date mapping of the flooded areas, which helped their evacuation efforts. All of these concerns are valid, but are also balanced out with positive reasons for using the new technology and safeguards that allow the consumer to opt out of using the service whenever they choose.
Nearly everyone who uses the internet has now heard of Google, but not everyone knows that they use solar panels at their headquarters, are mapping air quality and emissions for the Environmental Protection Agency, and support building better hybrid cars and more energy efficient computers. The Google Foundation has committed more than $75 million in grants and investments that are dedicated to saving the planet using new environmentally-friendly technologies. They offer incentives to their employees for buying hybrid cars, and most of the products offered in their store are environmentally friendly, by using rechargeable batteries or making t-shirts out of bamboo.
Google is always looking towards the future, and one of the most publicized announcements of the past couple of months is an initiative to make cell phone platforms open source. The experts expected the company to be announcing the development of one G-Phone, but instead Android and the Open Handset Alliance are the beginning of how Google is hoping to improve the way people talk, browse the internet, listen to music, and play games on all cell phones. Google has always been supported and used open source applications and organizations such as Linux, Firefox, Apache, and MySQL, so this is a logical next step that is being widely praised. The Open Source Initiative describes open source as: “a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.” Translated for the less technological savvy, this means that anyone can read the code, comment on it, and revise it for their own use. This may seem like a pipe dream, but companies like Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon are already part of the Open Handset Alliance, too. Everyone is hoping to make it easier and cheaper for everyone to use the internet on their cell phone, along with adapting the device to meet your needs. They aren’t hoping to market a single cell phone the way Apple did: they want to bring everyone’s ideas to everyone’s phone. Cell phone companies spend a lot of money for their engineers and programmers to design a phone that their consumers will buy. If the initiative succeeds everyone will save money and receive better services, both the corporations and the consumers.
Conclusion
Google enables people to search for anything on the web by keyword, which includes names, photos, places, news, journals, and personal history. Privacy is sacrificed, of course: for the browser as well as the browsed upon. Most people are concerned about their privacy being compromised, so they install anti-virus software and don’t click on a link that Google warns them may be dangerous. The risk of losing more privacy can is rewarded by better searches and web surfing, and of course no one has to use the service, it’s up to each individual. It does feel nice to know that technology is saving lives, but it’s also comforting to find that a company is willing to spend money to protect our privacy when a government official decides that he or she needs to be checking up no the internet usage of people in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Not everyone believes in global warming, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t also believe in finding better ways to consume the resources our planet has given us. Bamboo, rechargeable batteries, hybrid cars, and solar panels are all more expensive up front, but they save money in the long run… along with preserving nature. When one company adopts new policies that prove to be viable then it’s not uncommon for other companies to do so as well.
Cell phones used to be for talking to co-workers, family, and friend, but that was in the ‘90’s. The industry has exploded and cell phones are now used for taking photos, text messaging, browsing the internet, watching videos, and listening to music. If everyone has a cell phone then it makes sense for everyone to be able to pick what features will help them and save money.
When people look at Google today they may see a multi-million dollar corporation that may someday become a competitor to companies such as Microsoft. Others may use Google simply because they provide services that no one else does, or in new ways that are better than their competitors methods. A lot of people probably just use Google’s search engine because it’s reliable, and you can always find what you need to know within a matter of seconds. I personally find it inspiring that two college students managed to become successful because they took a class project to the next step and changed the way that people use the internet. I can’t wait to see what the people at Google come up with next.
References
About Us (2008). Retrieved February 4, 2008 from Google.org. http://www.google.org/about.html
Android (2008). Retrieved January 30, 2008 from Open Handset Alliance. http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/android_overview.html
Ante, S. (2007, December 4). Verizon Embraces Google’s Android. Retrieved February 5, 2008 from Business Week Online. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=27740554&site=ehost-live
Chan, Jesse (2007, November 13). The Downfall of the Microsoft Empire. Retrieved February 5, 2008 from FishTrain. http://fishtrain.com/2007/11/13/the-downfall-of-the-microsoft-empire/
Chitu, Ionut Alex (2007, March 6). Web History, the Next Step in Personalized Search? Retrieved February 6, 2008 from Google Operating System. http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/03/web-history-next-step-in.html
Corporate Information (2008). Our Philosophy. Retrieved January 31, 2008 from Google. http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html
Environmental Protection Agency (2008, January). Google Adds Air Quality and Emissions Mapping. Retrieved February 14, 2008 from Civil Engineering. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=28142927&site=ehost-live
Fleischer, Peter (2007, June 11). Retrieved February 14, 2008 from The Official Google Blog. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-long-should-google-remember.html
Google Milestones (2007). Corporate Information. Retrieved January 31, 2008 from Google. http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/history.html
Gralla, Preston (2007, March 28). Freebies in Action: How Craigslist and Google Earth Save Lives. Retrieved February 14, 2008 from PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130045-page,9-c,freeware/article.html
Hart, David (2004, August 17). On the Origins of Google. Retrieved February 5, 2008 from National Science Foundation - Discoveries. http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100660&org=NSF
Manes, Stephen (2007, December). Today’s Web: Use at Your Own Risk. Retrieved February 5, 2008 from PCWorld. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=27460064&site=ehost-live
Open Source Initiative (2007). Retrieved February 6, 2008. http://www.opensource.org/
Web History (2008). Retrieved February 5, 2008 from Google. http://www.google.com/history/
Web History Privacy Notice (2007, February 22). Retrieved February 14, 2008 from Google. http://www.google.com/history/whprivacy.html
Wong, Nicole (2006, March 17). Judge Tells DoJ “No” on Search Queries. Retrieved February 14, 2008 from The Official Google Blog. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/judge-tells-doj-no-on-search-queries.html
Wong, Nicole (2006, February 17). Response to the DoJ Motion. Retrieved February 14, 2008 from The Official Google Blog. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html
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