Google

I think my life without Google would not be as exciting and fulfilling as it is currently.  Sometimes I sit there and think: I can't believe I can just learn about anything, look up ANYTHING without ever leaving my chair!   This is incredible.  And even though I've been using the Internet for almost a decade now, I still get amazed at what a wonderful thing it is.

Where else could I learn about good old O'Reilly, find business directory to, oh, just about anything, find free deals on travel or clothing… fournisseur d'accs!  The best thing about this search engine is that it allows you the most ridiculous combinations of words, for example, the other day I was remembering one line to a song and I knew that the song was by a band from London, Ontario…. It took less than a minute to locate the band, the song and the lyrics after I typed in (incorrectly) the line and the place of band's origin.  And I find that incredible. 

This free access to information is really priceless.  You can also find out about other search engines, free email, you can organize your life through google and make it more exciting with all its possibilities.

The best thing about google is that it is constantly developing.  For example, on April 1st, 2004 Google company offered free email accounts with 1,000 megabytes: enter Gmail.  Gmail has a built in search engine, the messages are categorized by subject lines… enough space to send elephants of attachments.  The users of Gmail get their messages archived, sorted… everything gets organized on its own without wasting the necessary storage space. 

But this, of course, is not the end of wonderful things to come from google.  The people behind the wonderful search engine believe in innovation and surprise.  They say they're devoted to their users… and their engineers are constantly working and developing new ideas in Google Labs – this is where some of the ideas not ready to be launched yet get tested and can be commented on by the users of google.

History of Google

The word "google" refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros.  According to Google:  “Google's use of the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web.”

Google was started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Stanford University.  They worked together on a search engine in 1996, that they named BackRub, which was designed to be able to evaluate “back links” that would search a given website.  It took a year for their invention to start getting some reputation and a bigger audience.

In 1998 Page and Brin built their own computer housings in Page’s dorm room, this was Google’s first data centre.  Brin set up a business office and the pair started contacting potential partners who would perhaps want to license a search technology.

They found a first investor in Andy Bechtolsheim who saw the potential in the search engine and wrote them a check for $100, 000 made out to Google Inc.

After finalizing the business plan and incorporating details, Google Inc. launched in 1998 in Menelo Park, California.  The company hired Craig Silverstein who became Google’s director of technology.

In December 1998 Google was named one of Top 100 Web Sites and Search Engines by PC Magazine, the engine was answering 10, 000 search queries a day.

By February 1999 Google moved its office to Palo Alto and had eight employees, the service was catering to more than 500, 000 queries a day, by then. 

On  June 7 1999, the company announced that it had secured a round of funding that included $25 million from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers.