Google winding up to throw their ‘virtual curveball’
Jonathon Smith
In 2003, the word Google was placed into the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, implementing its place in our society. It comes from the word googly, which ironically, is a word used to describe a delivery method in cricket that reverses the spin on the ball and curves it in the opposite direction.
Google is living up to its name, winding up to throw the world a virtual curveball. Venturing far from its roots as a search engine, Google is expanding its horizon beyond what anyone could have predicted, entering the new millennium.
The company seems to have no boundaries in their quest for expansion as their new operating system, Google Chrome OS, is due to hit shelves in the second half of this year. They will attempt to challenge the two behemoths in the market; Microsoft and Mac. They should be worried, because Google poses an enormous threat to their livelihood.
Though initially, the operating system will be targeted at mobile devices, expansion to the notebook and desktop market is a likely progression.
Normally, it worries me when a corporation becomes too large, too quickly. Many don’t know how to handle the success and some abuse their good fortune.
Google’s transparency is refreshing though. They handle business the way it should be, and they don’t hide behind closed doors.
Google could be the best thing to happen to our society since former president George Bush left office. They have an innovative and pro-active approach to business.
Take for instance, Google’s recent efforts to promote a public forum concerning the need to restructure the distribution of broadband internet. Google Moderator was created to facilitate the discussion.
Google also planned to offer ultra high-speed broadband connections in the near future; a move that would expand the company into yet another market.
The move makes a lot of sense for them. The less time people spend loading pages, the more ads they can deliver to users, and the more revenue they generate.
Testing of the high-speed broadband will be done on a small scale, but Google hoped to expand further after the trial run.
They claim speeds up to 100 times faster than current technology. They also claim they will, “offer service at a competitive price.”
If the prices are reasonable, this will be the biggest innovation in internet technology in years.
Though connection speeds have certainly increased dramatically since the days of dial-up, so has the amount of high density media.
Imagine downloading an entire HD movie in the time it takes to drink your morning coffee. You could then watch it on the bus or the train without the need for any internet access.
Unlike other tech companies that struggled with success, like Enron (and Microsoft at times), Google’s approach to business should keep their vision straight, and the company afloat.
The Google business model is simple and highly effective. Only time will tell, but the next decade could very well be remembered as the “Google era.
