Sam Walton Taught Google More About How to Dominate the Internet Than Microsoft Ever Did

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html

"So why buy-up all that fiber, then? The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid."

Another thought-provoking article from Robert X. Cringely. Will it come to pass? Who knows - but what I do know is that despite all of Microsoft's best efforts, they're always several steps behind Google when it comes to Web-based applications and services.

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html

"So why buy-up all that fiber, then? The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid."

Another thought-provoking article from Robert X. Cringely. Will it come to pass? Who knows - but what I do know is that despite all of Microsoft's best efforts, they're always several steps behind Google when it comes to Web-based applications and services.

[Jerry Raia]

Reading that article made me want to put tin foil on my head. Is that a black helicopter up there? :worried:

[revolution.cx]

There's just one problem: Google has yet to complete a robust and mature "application" besides search.

Gmail is in beta and despite a great start it remains there and hasn't really grabbed mindshare.

Google maps is just getting started. Google groups - who designed that interface? It's terrible.

If you've used their AdSense service you've been witness to a long and slow process of adding meaningful features.

Google is great but so many of their offerings feel like spin offs from lab experiments. And then they move on to something else.

Perhaps all this capacity they are purchasing will allow them to take a real crack at TV over the Web, time will tell.

[Kris Kumar]

A very interesting take on the future prospects.

It sounds pretty convincing to me. I know that Google is definitely trying to put the emphasis on the Internet. Move things away from the desktop.

Google did start out with search. But all their products seem to be pretty well thought out. The Google Desktop/Sidebar seems to be the glue that will be bringing stuff like the Reader, GMail, and other things Google under one view. And all the Google apps are aimed at putting the data on the Internet and not on the user's desktop. With that in mind I can see why Google would be interested in investing in data warehouses.

[Jerry Raia]

Remember when MS was talking about something like this a few years ago? Everything on the Internet even your data. It didn't go over too well. People use hotmail but I bet most have other email they use as well. I don't think Google will get far with this stuff. I can't give away the 50 Gmail invites I have. Nobody wants it. That side bar thing looks primitive to me as does the messenger thing they came out with. I even got rid of the desktop search.

[Kris Kumar]

When Microsoft proposed the same idea few years ago. I thought it was a cool idea. But there were some flaws in the plans.

Microsoft wanted to be the owner and host all the information. I hope Google doesn't want to do that.

Also the biggest problem was that the industry and the general public was paranoid about the Single Sign-on thingy called Passport that was going to be used to lock up all the data on the Internet. Given Microsoft's track record as a **cough** security focused company. And also the fact that people see Microsoft as a bully and an evil empire. The whole project was shot down.

But for me the biggest concern was that the Microsoft platform was not open/friendly to third-party solution providers.

[Mike Temporale]

Originally Posted by Kris Kumar

Microsoft wanted to be the owner and host all the information. I hope Google doesn't want to do that.

Right, Google doesn't care about where the data is coming from, they just want to know what you're looking at so they can target you with ads. All the Google products tie into this theme - which I find a little more scary than just housing my data. :worried:

[Kris Kumar]

Originally Posted by Mike Temporale

...which I find a little more scary than just housing my data. :worried:

You have a good point. Initially I was never worried. But then something just struck me. Right now we have credit ratings (FICO score etc), based on our spending habits. What if someone like Google (or Amazon or ebay) come up with online profile score, based on what we read-buy-watch-listen. That would be scary. Employers would want that, your would be spouse's in-laws etc :-)

Pretty scrary. :worried:

[Mike Temporale]

Here's a link to a really good post from Nick Bradbury's blog, about why you should be more concerned about what Google is trying to do.

http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2005/10...u_paying_.html

[Mike Temporale]

Robert makes some really good points, but ultimately, I think he's missing the boat when it comes to what Google is trying to do. There is no money in making sure Internet TV works well for you. That's an ISP issue and not something Google would be interested in. They are more focused on making sure they know what you're looking at so they can better target ads to you. Plain and simple. If that means have many data centers so that they can gather local traffic and add it into their system and generate better and more accurate localized ads then all the better. At Google, advertising is where the money is.

I think the link I posted above from Nick, is a much better analysis of Google and their plans for the future.