I thought I knew a lot about GOOGLE, the world’s most successful search engine. But I didn’t know GOOGLE builds their own servers. I didn’t know they laid hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber optic cable connecting their secret server farms. And I didn’t know that GOOGLE and Apple, once close business partners, are now locked in a battle that pits Apple’s iPhone against GOOGLE’s Android phones. It was interesting that GOOGLE considered buying Skype back in 2007, but decided against it because they considered Skype an antiquated technology. Yet Microsoft is now buying Skype for $8 billion. I suspect GOOGLE is laughing at that move. If you’re interested in how a couple of Stanford Ph.D. students created a world-changing technology company (and became billionaires), In the Plex shows how it all came about. Fascinating story! GRADE: A
I will never forget when google came along. How superior it was to the other search engines of the time. I never used yahoo or the other ones–that have disappeared again.
GOOGLE is all about speed and accuracy, Patti. The founders are obsessed with information and the speed it takes to find the right answers.
They haven’t disappeared, Ms. Reality (though Janina Gavankar as Ms. Dewey sadly has)…you just don’t use Ask.com or AltaVista that much anymore. Bing strikes me as pretty sad…but, boy, doesn’t Google data-mine the hell out of us. And owns Blogger.
IN THE PLEX shows just how large GOOGLE’s global reach really is, Todd. On the other hand, GOOGLE is a place I’d like to work. Their work environment resembles a college campus.
I used Yahoo before Google, but Google – AT FIRST – was a lot cleaner, didn’t have junked-up screens and gave better hits. There are probably 30 or 40 search engines out there, some pretty good ones, but the big gorilla has won the battle.
I knew most of the things you list, George, but I read Wired, Macworld and some other periodicals that have that information.
I had no idea GOOGLE’s reach had gotten so long (and powerful), Rick. Patrick interviewed with GOOGLE and they gave him a T-shirt (Diane wears it sometimes) and told him to get back to them when he finishes his Ph.D.