Blog Post 6

EOTO Presentation Notes

I found the history of Google to be most fascinating from the presentations. Google was created by two Stanford University students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in 1998. Originally receiving support from Yahoo, Google is now responsible for over 70% of the world's searches.

  

Google began in a garage in Menlo Park, California, but quickly expanded. Page and Brin hired a new CEO, Eric Schmidt, in 2001. However, Page became CEO in 2011, and Sundar Pichai became CEO in 2015.

Much of Google's revenue is due to advertising, despite having paid services. Gmail was created in 2004, though questions of privacy were raised even at this point, since Google sent advertisements to users based on the wording in their emails. However, separating itself from the competition, Google utilized back-linking-or pushing websites to users depending on how many other pages linked to them.

In 2006, Google purchased YouTube, though they have acquired over 200 other companies. Google has an expansive reach, with file storage through Google Drive, a competitor to Microsoft Word with Google Docs, and the Google Pixel line of smartphones. Somewhat recently, Google even delved into the world of gaming, releasing the Google Stadia, a cloud-based portable gaming console. 

Google Chrome, released in 2008, remains the most used search engine. This is not to say Google had no shortcomings, as the Google+ social media website, discontinued in 2019 after just eight years, never took off in the way Facebook did. Additionally, some have voiced concerns of Google being a monopoly.

The word Google is now colloquially used as a term for searching the Internet, even being added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Google's staying power and revenue is mainly due to brand recognition and advertisement, though its acquisition of YouTube and other smaller companies brought more popularity to Google's services.