We all use Google, we “Google it”, and
we even say “if Google doesn’t have the answers, you’re in for some trouble!”
How many of you have ever sat down to think or search about how Google, the
greatest search engine came into existence? Have you ever wondered how it
became so big? Well, I Google-d it. And here’s an interesting description of
how things happened.
Ø Google isn’t even as
old as I am!
That’s kind of shocking. It started in 1995, under two Stanford University students- Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two computer science students worked on this search engine, which they then had named it BackRub. This search engine was used as for the University’s servers for the year to follow (1996), after which it was taken down since it took too much bandwidth.
That’s kind of shocking. It started in 1995, under two Stanford University students- Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two computer science students worked on this search engine, which they then had named it BackRub. This search engine was used as for the University’s servers for the year to follow (1996), after which it was taken down since it took too much bandwidth.
Ø Why ‘Google’?
The two geniuses then changed the name into Google, which was inspired from the googol, which in essence means the number 1, followed by a 100 zeroes. Their idea was to create an engine that would be able to hold an infinite amount of data on the web. Smart, don’t you think?
The two geniuses then changed the name into Google, which was inspired from the googol, which in essence means the number 1, followed by a 100 zeroes. Their idea was to create an engine that would be able to hold an infinite amount of data on the web. Smart, don’t you think?
Ø Raising the Funds
The duo set out to look for funds, and their first investor, Andy Bechtolscheim (Sun Co-founder) generously gave them the push they needed, with a check worth $100,000. From that point onwards, there was no looking back! Soon enough, it turned out that they gathered investors, who’s money turned into a whopping million dollars.
The duo set out to look for funds, and their first investor, Andy Bechtolscheim (Sun Co-founder) generously gave them the push they needed, with a check worth $100,000. From that point onwards, there was no looking back! Soon enough, it turned out that they gathered investors, who’s money turned into a whopping million dollars.
Ø Setting Up a
Workstation
Page and Brin moved their work to a friend’s garage in California. That’s where they hired the first company’s first employee – Craig Silverstein (who later became the Director of Technology). By the end of 1998, the guys make their company reach the Top 100 Web Sites mark, for the year.
Page and Brin moved their work to a friend’s garage in California. That’s where they hired the first company’s first employee – Craig Silverstein (who later became the Director of Technology). By the end of 1998, the guys make their company reach the Top 100 Web Sites mark, for the year.
Ø Workstation Outgrown
From handling 10,000 queries to 500,000 a day, the search engine’s rate of success became humungous. So the two founder members and their 8 employees head to Palo Alto (where GooglePlex stands today) in the beginning of 1999. They were now known world-wide for their effectiveness, speed, reliability and more. But there was no stopping them.
From handling 10,000 queries to 500,000 a day, the search engine’s rate of success became humungous. So the two founder members and their 8 employees head to Palo Alto (where GooglePlex stands today) in the beginning of 1999. They were now known world-wide for their effectiveness, speed, reliability and more. But there was no stopping them.
Ø The Beginning of a New
Century
2000 was a grand year for Google. They took over Yahoo’s search engine and became the default one…And not only that- they became the world’s largest search engine with their first billion-URL index! This was also the year where 15 new language translations came into being (such as French, German, Chinese, Japanese and Dutch), as well as the introduction of Google Toolbar.
2000 was a grand year for Google. They took over Yahoo’s search engine and became the default one…And not only that- they became the world’s largest search engine with their first billion-URL index! This was also the year where 15 new language translations came into being (such as French, German, Chinese, Japanese and Dutch), as well as the introduction of Google Toolbar.
Ø Other Benchmarks
For the years to follow-
For the years to follow-
·
2001 had the inclusions
of Image Search and a jaw-dropping web document size of 3 billion!
·
2002 comes with the
launch of their first hardware called the Google
Search Appliance, as well as Google
News and Froogle (now called
Product Search).
·
The world’s first Code
Jam comes into being in 2003, where cash prized competitions are held for the
coders of Java, C++, etc.
·
2004 sees the idea of
social networking, through the much renowned Orkut. They also acquire Keyhole, which we know today as Google
Earth.
Year after year, the number of
milestones and benchmarks the company has hit has no boundaries! The progress is
overwhelming, and makes me think- I haven’t even heard of half of the things
they’ve invented, let alone used them!
*too shocked to say more*
De the original idea of Google was from Yahoo they called up a press conference and they announced that they are planning to make a website where people can search for anything but that was just a idea then but Founder of Google make it a reality before Yahoo .
ReplyDeleteNalin, at some point, every idea is inspired from someone or something. Yahoo only proposed to make such a search engine at that time. But Google was successful in doing so without any aid or unfair means. So I'd say it has nothing to do with Yahoo, really. If you search, you might find more stories about other companies who thought about making Google. Doesn't mean they are Google, right? :)
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