Happy Birthday, Google!
Today, Google turns 9. Do you remember life before Google? Do you remember when librarians raved about Alta Vista and other search engines? What search engine was your primary search engine before Google came along? Did you switch to Google like millions of other people? Do you use other Google services, like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Book Search, Google Scholar, Orkut, etc.? Do you find yourself in discussions at parties about what Google’s next big tool will be? (OK, well, maybe that’s just me and my geeky friends.)
Before Google, I was an Alta Vista junkie. I believe I learned about Google through the same source that has taught many of us about cool Web stuff: ResourceShelf. I gradually gave in to peer pressure and began using Google more and more. When the quality of Alta Vista’s search results plummeted, I pretty much abandoned it. In the last few years, I’ve found myself shifting away from Google to using other search engines more, especially Ask and Ask Maps—quite possibly because of the same person who influenced me to begin using Google.
When Gmail was all the rage, someone gave me a Gmail invite. Unlike most of my friends, I still prefer other e-mail services more. The incorrect threading drives me nuts. I still want an ‘unthread this message’ button.
I believe it was Gary Price who got me into Orkut, Google’s social networking service. Once one of the first popular social networking sites, now I hear lots of snarking about how Google’s products are often stuck in beta because of how long Orkut had the word near its logo and how Orkut has a reputation of being a stalled product.
Each time I try to use Google Calendar—a tool I began using within the last year because a friend of mine praised it incessantly and wanted to see my schedule—I find countless … things that need improvement, shall we say.
I know many people who applied for jobs when Google arrived in Cambridge.
In some ways, I wonder if Google is the next Microsoft. Do we tolerate its shortcomings because it has such a huge name and excellent reputation? The features and benefits mostly outweigh the bugs and problems I find using their services, so despite my whining, I doubt I’ll abandon Google any time soon. Do we look forward to its next projects because of the wonderful things it’s done in the past? How big will its empire become before people get nervous? Google, what’s next?
Happy birthday and many more!
October 24th, 2007 at 4:45 am
To be honest, I had no idea what this search engine was all about until Google came into the picture. Happy Birthday, Google.