What is Google?

[Tom]

Nice answer from Kenradio yesterday 'Google is an adserver disguised as a search engine'.
But Fortune Mag says they are running technological rings round MS. And I am switching over to Office 2003. So far as I can see it has more irritations and if there are any advantages I have not found them. The new Access, for example, drives you wild with a set of security warnings before you can get it going - you pretty well have to disable macro virus protection before you can see your data. And you'd think the Help system was a UoG production. Its no longer application-specific, its partly online and its not in the least helpful.


PS There is a good article on universities in Today's Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1059-1385419,00.html) - accompanied by Adsense. We are in good company!

[francis]

Office 2003 with that appalling light blue colour over everything? I've only got one app in Office 2003 and the eye candy appearance is very unpleasant. Can you change the appearance?

Interesting article in ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/0,39023769,39168647,00.htm) about 'what makes Google tick' (click 'format for printer' to get everything on one page). Apparently it's thousands of very cheap computers rather than state of the art - who'da thunk it? Maybe it isn't really pigeons after all... (http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html)

Also, if you read the article, Google's vice chairman of engineering is quoted as saying

"Most people say Google is a search engine but our mission is to organise information to make it accessible."

Now, you might say that that's what a search engine does, but the 'just a search engine' thing still ring true when they start adding features like GMail, Froogle, Scholar, local information, calculators and start buying mapping tools (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/28/google_buys_keyhole/)? Or is this just making Google a search engine with an increasingly large amount of bells and whistles?

Interesting to see Google banner advertising Froogle - I found this on a film review page on the Guardian's site (http://film.guardian.co.uk/patterson/story/0,12830,1364576,00.html).

http://www.websitearchitecture.co.uk/storr/forumimgs/frooglead.gif

[James]

I think Google is moving more towards a portal, like Yahoo.

Yahoo has yahoomail, Google has Gmail
Yahoo has Kelkoo shopping, Google has Froogle
Yahoo has Yahoo groups, Google has usenet
and so on

Google is becoming a one stop shop for many different web services, like Yahoo.

[Tom]

Given that portal means doorway, I guess you are right that Google wants to position itself as THE entry point to the World Wide Web. As mentioned in a post yesterday I will try to get a copy of an article about Google to you next week. The company is now making money faster than Microsoft at it peak but they also say the Redmond Giant is stirring - with a bunch of new features in the new MSN search. My view is that the oldest of business assets is on Google's side: most people trust and admire the company while most people distrust and dislike MS. That's as near as you can get to having 'God on your side'. People say 'remember how Bill broke Netscape', but Netscape never had money pouring through its portal like water in the Titanic. An attractive aspect of Google is that it is enriching so many other people. Thats good PR like nobody companies have ever had good PR! (except Ebay - which is not as profitable as Google).