Shashank's Musings

A google way

When one thinks of the web, the most common picture that props up in our minds is that of a vast mirthless ocean, of a dense tropical forest in some part of south america .If we were in the middle of those scenarios what would probably top our wish list is something to give us a sense of whats going on - an overview if u would like.Well the web is pretty much the same as that ocean or forest or whatever else your imagination can conjour up and google is very much the paraih which helps you sense out this maze of information that is the world wide web. Google in a way helps you truly appreciate the amount of information that is available in the world but it sheilds you from grasping (and grappling) the sheer enormity of this mire of information.

The very beauty of the web has always been its ability to enable us to put up any information that we wish to and have it at once accessible to anyboby who seeks it irrespective,wheather that person is in the same country as yours or maybe even an entirely different continent !! But as in many cases what seems to be our greatest strength can also prove to be our unsuspecting achilees heel. What perhaps few anticipated with any measure of accuracy was how vast the www was gonna get and few realized the potential that this problem offers to those alert enough to gauge the dilemma that millions of people will face - where to find the information ? which are the sites to go to ? In this mire how do we realize without wasting a considerable time which caters to our needs?

Well my fellow net users quite a few did, a many few explored the quandry with considerable success , but only a select few actually mastered the it with smashing success. Google did and did so with some aplomb, and thus the reason for its success and rise to emerge as a $176 billion company!!! Phew ..the power of imagination...!

"To organize the world's information and make it accessible and useful " - If that cant get your imagination then precious little else will. Thats like the intergalactic mission statement you hear on Star trek - " To boldly go where no one has gone before" . The journey , the statement and the very name have always embodoied the pathos that the statement holds, and along the way make money - the radio way. The coming togehter of two different media's separated by a few deacades!!

The strength's og google are what i call the " 3K's " .( i like abbreviating and i do it a lot) . Here it goes

Keep it simple

Keep it free

Keep it honest

Clutter - the very word kind of conjoures up images of a messy room( like mine) but having a cluttred website where you have to search for something (especially on a search website !!!!) is extremely annoying . SO i like google - straight and simple - clean and nice.

Now pay-per-search - u gotta be kidding . So i got to think- frame questions and then enter a question - hold ON !! that's NOT ON . But as Bill said,(The redmond guy) some of the best commercial things require some money to be made and so you have to pay. Well sure - get the advertisers to pay - the soap opera way when radios started.

And last but not certainly not the last in any measure - keep it honest . It brings people back to you.Its the most primitive of human ethos but even more significant for a faceless internet company.Do not try to become too curious about people who come to you. You certainly wouldnt trust a doctor who orders a foot scan when you go for a tummy ache ! or would you?

These are grains which any company can use to get to top - but very few did . Google did and the rest as they say is a journey in progress.

posted by Shashank @ 3:41 AM