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Google: Dus ka dum |
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By: Agencies |
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Date:
2008-09-08 |
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Place: California |
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What it looked like in 1998 | When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc on September 7, 1998, they had little more than their ingenuity, four computers and an investor's $100,000 (Rs 45 lakh) bet on their belief that an Internet search engine could change the world.
It sounded preposterous 10 years ago, but look now: Google draws upon a gargantuan computer network, nearly 20,000 employees and a $150 billion (Rs 6.7 lakh crore) market value to redefine media, marketing and technology.
Perhaps Google's biggest test in the next decade will be finding a way to pursue its seemingly boundless ambitions without triggering a backlash that derails the company. "You can't do some of the things that they are trying to do without eventually facing some challenges from the government and your rivals," said Danny Sullivan, who has followed Google since its inception and is now editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.
In the latest example of its relentless expansion, Google has just released a Web browser to make its search engine and other online services even more accessible. Extending Google's ubiquity to cell phones and other mobile devices sits at the top of their agenda for the next decade.
The lengthy to-do list also includes: making digital copies of all the world's books; establishing electronic file cabinets for people's health records; leading the alternative energy charge away from fossil fuels; selling computer programme to businesses over the Internet; and tweaking its search engine so it can better understand requests stated in plain language, just like a human would.
Rs 84,500 crore The individual worth of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who are both 35 |
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