Great Facts from ‘The Google Story’ – Part 2

Here I am back again, with the second part of Great Facts from 'The Google Story' 

Here we go..

What does the name Google mean?

"Google means a very large number," Page said. "It is the number V followed by 100 zeros. And we were trying to come up with a name. We were confused about how to spell this, and so we actually spelled it incorrectly. It is a mathematical term and it is spelled g-o-o-g-o-l. So that is the right way Google is spelled. Most people don't know that, fortunately."

Larry’s aim was to download the entire web in a week??!!

"Google was started when Sergey and I were Ph.D. students at Stanford University in computer science," Page began, "and we didn't know exactly what we wanted to do. I got this crazy idea that I was going to download the entire Web onto my computer. I told my advisor that it would only take a week. After about a year or so, I had some portion of it."

How does Google make money?

"Google gets paid for every search that happens, more or less, mostly through advertising," Page said. "People pay for advertising. We are very lucky in that we chose to make ads relevant rather than having flash banner ads. It helps us have the best search engine. We also get paid by other companies, like AOL, that use our search engine."

Having a healthy disregard for the impossible

"So optimism is important," he went on. "You have to be a little silly about the goals you are going to set. There is a phrase I learned in college called, 'Having a healthy disregard for the impossible,'" Page said. "That is a really good phrase. You should try to do things that most people would not."

Brin and Lary – made and depend for each other

Supremely confident about their achievements and vision, Brin and Page had been on a roll ever since they started working together. They wanted no one—neither competitors nor outside investors—to come between them or interfere in any way. That combination of dependence on each other, and independence from everyone else, had contributed immeasurably to their astounding success.

Do you think Google was the highlight of your career? the first student asked Brin and Page.

"I think it was the smallest of accomplishments that we hope to make over the next 20 years," said Brin. "But I think that if Google is all we create, I don't think I would be very disappointed."
Page felt otherwise. "I would be very disappointed," he said. "We have many years left to go."

Sergey Brin wants more failures before every success ??!! How about that??!!

"We run Google a little bit like a university," Brin explained. "We have lots of projects, about 100 of them. We like to have small groups of people, three or so people, working on projects. Some of them, for example, are related to molecular biology. Others involve building hardware. So we do lots of stuff. The only way you are going to have success is to have lots of failures first."
The students applauded. The idea of eventually succeeding after failing first, of not being afraid to fall down, resonated with them immediately.

A Project closer to the Google Founder heart is TRANSLATION !!!

"A project that is closer to our hearts," Sergey continued, "involves translation, and I was asked about Hebrew to English, which is not one of the ones we are working on. One of the most important aspects of information access is that a lot of information is not in languages that you understand. We have an existing translation service, but we think we can make it exceptionally better."

Hope you like these facts too.. Let me know what do you feel..

If you missed the Part 1 of this series, you can view it here

Great Facts from 'The Google Story' – Part 1

Last week, I purchased an amazing book ‘The Google Story’ by David A.Vise & Mark Malseed from Landmark, Chennai.

Just finished the first chapter today titled ‘Introduction’. Many facts are very interesting and useful. So I thought, why don’t I share those great facts to you all and here I am kick starting Great Facts from ‘The Google Story’ series

Interesting facts from the book are given in block quotes and I just gave title to each fact !!! Hope you will find this useful

Yahoo prevented Google Founders to become Standford Ph.D’s..all because of just refuse to spend $1 million !!!

Yahoo!, AltaVista, and many other major search engine and technology companies approached by Stanford University turned down the chance to buy Google's search system for $1 million. Their refusals forced Stanford Ph.D. students Sergey Brin and Larry Page to reluctantly drop out of school and start the firm. By the summer of 2005, each of the founders had a net worth of more than $10 billion.

Google knowingly forego 10’s of millions of dollar ever day!!!

Google does not seek to make as much money as it could in the short run. The most obvious example of this is the Google homepage, considered the most valuable piece of real estate on the Internet. A quick trip to www.google.com will confirm that Google displays no advertising on this page, forgoing tens of millions of dollars in revenue and profits to give users a higher-quality search experience.

Google Servers aka PC!!! Yeah..You read it right

Most important technological advantage distinguishing Google from would-be competitors is that its employees assemble and customize all of the personal computers the company uses to carry out searches. This is perhaps Google's best-kept secret.

Experts generally regard personal computers as commodity products, akin to toasters, but Google assembles, deploys, and is constantly improving the performance capabilities of more than 200,000 inexpensive PCs. It builds and stacks them atop one another in refrigerator-size racks, stringing them together with patented software and wiring. No enterprise has more computing power than Google with its network of garden-variety PCs on steroids.

"They run the largest computer system in the world," Hennessy said. "I don't think there is even anything close."

How Sergey Brin, Larry Page & Eric Schmidt together make things happen?

When it comes to products, Brin and Page operate in a hands-on manner, pushing hard for the introduction of new features and offerings at a blistering pace. Some of these changes are highly visible; others, hidden from view, provide users with better and speedier search results. The founders have time to focus heavily on what matters to users because their colleague, chief executive officer Eric Schmidt, tends to the company's business affairs. This sets them free to do what they do best. However, the entire trio at the top gets involved in both business affairs and product development. Brin, it turns out, is quite a good deal-maker and Page is adept at finding ways to cut costs, notably in the vitally important area of electricity needed to power and cool Google's computers.

What's Google average team size….It is 3 !!!

At Google, the preference is for working in small teams of three, with individual employees expected to allot 20 percent of their time to exploring whatever ideas interest them most. The notion of "20 percent time" is borrowed from the academic world, where professors are given one day a week to pursue private interests. Because the company lacks the usual layers of middle management, the hierarchical structure found in traditional corporations is nonexistent. At the same time, no other company has Google's combination of brains, immense computing resources, and focus on long-term results, vaulting it into a league of its own. These days, other companies have a tough time competing against Google for employees.

To google means "to search." !!!

That the company's name has become a verb in English, German, and other languages is testament to its pervasive influence on global culture.

How far did the Google travelled till now?

Google and its founders have traveled far. At the same time, both they and the company are still young—and this is just the beginning.

And for this series too, it is just a beginning. I will share more great facts as and when I read those from this great book :)

Before I close, just want to add one more fact

My 3 year old daughter knows ‘The Google Story’!!!

While I compose this post, I just visited Amazon to get the purchase link for this book. My 3 year old daughter(she is just onto her pre school and just know to say ABCD orally) just passed by and happened to see the ‘The Google Story’ book cover on the site(given below). And you know what she said…

’Papa…Is it not the book that you were reading yesterday’

Wow!!! Power of Google!!!

Please remember that I have just extracted a drop from this great book and I highly recommend to but the book. It’s really worth the money…

Hope you liked this post…

Let me know what you feel about these great facts..

See you soon…