Saturday 17 October 2015

Google- The Company and Its Founders

          This book was Written by Susan.E.
          I started reading this book only because my Communication Professor in my college has said us to read a book regarding the biography or auto-biography of any CEO of company. I never liked reading book. But it was compulsory.  So i had no other go than to read the book.
          I started this book only because it was suggested to me by Google itself, and I too was interested in knowing the story of the google. As there is never a day goes by that I Use Google.
          A small review of the book i read........
          Google was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
SERGEY BRIN:
           Sergey Brin was born on August 21, 1973 in Moscow, Russia. His father Michael Brin was a graduate of  Mathematics from Moscow State University and his mother Eugenia Brin received her graduate degree from School of Mechanics and Mathematics and worked in a laboratory at the Soviet Oil and Gas Institute. He began college math courses at the age of 15 at the University of Maryland and went on to complete a double major in mathematics and computer science. He graduated with honors in 1993 at the age of 19. Upon completion of his undergraduate work he was awarded National Science Foundation Scholarship. With this scholarship he attended Stanford University, California.
LARRY PAGE:
          Larry Page was born on March 26, 1973 in East Lanching, Michigan. He was the son of Carl Victor Page and Gloria Victor Page. His father earned one of the first PhDs awarded in computer science and taught at Michigan State University. His father was a computer professor, so they had computer really early than others. He graduated from East Lansing High School and enrolled Computer Engineering program at University of Michigan. He became the member of University Solar Car team. He too like Brin had high knowledge about computers.He attended graduate school at Stanford University, California.
          Sergey Brin was second year student at that time. He was campus tour guide for Larry Page. They both had common interest including obsession with Computers and Mathematics.
AN IDEA BECOMES REALITY:
          In 1997 these two students from Stanford University knew they were onto something special. They were working on a project that looked promising. If this becomes successful it could revolutionize Internet Searching. In 1990's Internet was relatively new and searching for information was very difficult. Exact URL should be known in-order to open the webpage.
         Soon after arriving at Stanford University Page set out to realize his dream and began studying Internet Links. They first created backrub search engine and Page rank algorithm. They needed lot of computers to store and process information on the Internet.They often visited university lodging docks and used the computers which were not used by their owners. They created a Spider program to scour Internet on the web sites. They downloaded websites onto the computer where it could be analyzed for links. But in-order to run the Spider program they nearly needed $20000. Their Adviser invested nearly $10000 and they saved money by collecting of smaller parts.
         In 1997, they decided to give a new name to the Backrub and Page Rank algorithm. Page suggested "GooglePlex" which means company that searches and indexes and allows people to access vast amount of data. GooglePlex was a huge number. Then Page suggested GOOGAL that is 1 followed by 100 zeros.  But he misspelled it as GOOGLE in his workstation. Page found it reasonable and later he wrote on the white board as GOOGLE.COM. This was the starting of the Google.
       From beginning neither Brin nor Page intended to make Google into a business. They viewed it as a Scholar Research Project.
        At starting they were running Google within the Stanford Campus, But in-order to expand Google they have to think beyond Stanford. So they thought to sell Google to preexisting search engine. In 1997, they first contacted creators of Alta Vista would be interested in purchasing Google for $1million, they listened to Brin and Page description about Google. But their Parent company Digital Equipment Corporation refused to buy Google, They also contacted Yahoo and Excite but they too were not interested in buying google. But Yahoo creator David Filo suggested Brin and Page to start his own business. They din't want to make decision so soon. So they focused on improving google for its users at Stanford. They sent Email to survey about the Google. Daily search of Google increased up to 10,000 search per day within the Stanford University. For that they needed more processing power and memory. After this they decided to start his own business.
       Brin and Page turned to computer science professor David Cheriton for help finding investors. In August 1998, Cheriton introduced the men to Andy Bechtolsheim, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Bechtolsheim was the vice president of Cisco Systems, a technology company. He was interested in what the students described to him.
       On September 7 1998, Google officially became a Cooperation with Page as the CEO and Brin as the President.
        Their mission statement "To make it easier to find high quality information on the web" and their motto was "Don't be Evil" '.
         No longer students, they had to leave Stanford. They needed new headquarters and a place to live. They rented a spare bedroom and a garage from Brin's Girlfriend.
         By 1998, Google was gaining exposure and growing quickly. They decided to expand Google. They decided to rent a bigger office Space. They started hiring more brilliant people for working with Google, By 1999, the company received $25 million from two investors. Google was growing day by day even as they spent no amount in marketing.
         By May 2000, Google search topped by 18 million search per day, and by 2000 end it reached up to 1 billion search per day. In 2000 google came out with many other new language and by 2002 Google could be translate into 72 languages. By 2004 it moved into a bigger headquaters staying in Mountain view.  The new corporate campus came to be known as the Googleplex. Workers at the Googleplex enjoyed a laid-back, fun atmosphere that countered the stress of some of their projects. The company offered everything from massages to pool tables and free laundry to free food. The hype surrounding Google allowed Brin and Page to hire enthusiastic employees who were eager to be part of a cutting-edge corporation. The perks were an attractive bonus, but people were expected to perform at Google.
          In December 2003, Google launched the first version of Google Book Search, which allowed online users to see excerpts of scanned versions of book and they collaborated with the libraries of Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Oxford University, and the New York Public Library. In 2004, Gmail was introduced by the Google which was the mail version of Google. By 2005 Google buys Youtube for $1.65 million.
           Page and Brin planned for Philanthropic organisation. In 2004 the went to public and offered their Stocks. 1% of Google profit and 1% of Employees time to build technology products to address Global challenges, Such as Climate change, Poverty etc..
           Google has become part of everyday speech because it plays an important role in society,because Google has altered the way many people obtain information, there are some experts who argue it has changed the expectations the human brain has when seeking information. Regardless of how the inventors continue to advance their search engine, one thing is certain: Sergey Brin and Larry Page revolutionized society’s quest for information with Google.

No comments:

Post a Comment