This Friday September 7 next, the Internet giant is celebrating its 15 years. To celebrate the event, we invite you to come back to what the eyes of the French, is “the most important event in the short history of the Internet,” according to a survey conducted in 2011 by ICM Research for Kelkoo.
With a first gift: the thesis that had written in 1997 Sergei Brin and Larry Page, and explained point by point “Google” project. As a bonus, excerpts from what was written in the French press on Google (it was visionary? Did it wrong?) And some amazing videos.
L Article is not intended to be read continuously from A to Z, but rather that you can “peck” the items you want. Feel free to “scroll” the page and “make a stop” to paragraphs, photos or videos of your choice.
And for those already barely wait, here’s a glimpse of the “Google Story” video:
1 – A story garage
Before 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were students at Stanford University. One day they will see the director of the university to declare him coldly, “he additional servers we need, because we want to download Internet …” Yes, ALL download Internet content to be better studied, which, even then, was a challenge. To assemble the many servers they use the means at hand, namely simple brick … Lego (hence the current colors of the logo).
They then moved into a garage in Menlo Park, California. A small modest building owned by Susan Wojciki, the girlfriend of a friend of Sergey Brin rented at the time for the sum of $ 1,700 per month.
Since then, Susan Wojciki became Senior Vice President for advertising at Google as well as the wife of Sergey Brin. They are now living separately. Garage beginnings of Google has become a tourist attraction. A redeemed by the company for nearly $ 1.5 million instead. For the record, HP has also bought the tiny garage beginnings of William Hewlett.journalist Claude Soula recounted on his blog how he was able to perceive the metamorphosis of society at each visit every 18 months. And he wrote in 2005. “ Not need to be rocket science to reach its growth finger 3 years ago (2002 Ed), they were housed in a small and insignificant dreary building on the other side of Palo Alto, and you could talk to Sergey Brin and Larry Page, its creators, as easily as anyone. The last time they had to pay the huge headquarters of a faded glory of the Silicon Valley, computer maker SGI-Silicon graphics. (…) The buildings were still almost all empty, but we felt that the atmosphere was stretched even if you repeated that it was great to work for a company whose kitchens were supervised by the former chef of Jefferson airplane or the Grateful Dead. “
And here’s what it looks like today occupied the garage for five months Google founders:
2 – Work is fun
With the initial success of Google, Page and Brin invest in new premises. But they still need the cool atmosphere of the early years, as can be seen in this mind-blowing video … This is the beginning of the Googleplex with working conditions at least very original.
In an article dated 2001 Nouvel Observateur, Claude Soula describes the office environment Google: “ In the lobby of a building at first glance sad, you only see one thing: a huge grand piano around him, toys for children. a wooden train, and containers filled with candy. In the corridors of Google, say “gougueul” huge orange balloons, you would think straight from the series “The Prisoner” encircle a ping-pong . ”Very soon, the U.S. group sets up subsidiaries around the world. Google France opts for Paris headquarters since the 2000s. First installed on the side of the Star, the French employees work out of sight but in a relaxed atmosphere. “ We are at 54, avenue Hoche, Paris VIII. luxurious office building, plastered facade, entrance paved with large slabs of marble lobby. Occasionally, one of the heavy wooden doors clear of the ground floor opens on a young person shaggy in jeans and sneakers, cigarette in mouth , “said Emmanuelle Belohradsky Challenges in 2003. In 2011, Google opened its new headquarters in Paris with a new research and development center and a cultural institute.
And Google also exports its technical management very original as described in this Video Bernard Girard, author of “A revolution in management: the model Google “. ‘s dream of many employees.
Here’s a quick tour of the Google offices around the world.
And here is the recipe to make Google employees zen. 3 – A search engine overpowered
From the start, Google’s recipe is simple but effective: “the democratic model.” Propose a search results based on the popularity of pages on the web. In an article in Libération in 2000, Laurent Mauriac, now CEO of Rue89 lists the benefits of Google over other search engines, “ It’s usually are offered primarily pages containing the largest number of references to specific keywords. Google, he favors the interests of users . ”
In their thesis students, Brin and Page had already considered flaws future competitors: “ automated search engines that rely on keyword corresponding results give too many low quality. We built a search engine that provides results of much better quality “, they explained then.
Another advantage according Laurent Mauriac : “The system prevents sites cheat Needless to stuff the part of the code of the page invisible. for the user with amount of keywords. The only way to be referenced is to build a good website that makes a lot of other sites to return to him. “ In short, Google quickly attracted users for its efficiency … “ We prepare an index of 150 million pages with the goal of being able to completely overhaul at a monthly rate ,” said Sergey Brin Denis Delbecq The World in 1999
But the search engine also surprised by its simplicity as explained Pascal Perri, economist and author of “Google:. friend who does not want you as well. ” “Google at birth, it was a single search page surrounded by white, a small black rectangle and above a very efficient algorithm on which the company has continued to invest .”
Gradually all managed to Google. At the same time we commonly the word “Googling” used to say that the information is sought on the canvas. Six years after its birth, “ search engine has become an icon of the American myth” notes Sophie of Deserts Challenges in 2004 . “138,000 requests per second worldwide and more than 4 billion web pages scanned by 10,000 computers world,” takes care of adding the journalist.
And here’s a video of the Google page as it appeared in 1998.
For those who have forgotten the evolution of the presentation page of Google here’s a video
4 -. Advertising agency
Let it be said, the two geniuses of Stanford are not as “geeks”. They are also formidable businessmen who will quickly understand that they have in their hands a gold mine. Gradually grows as the search engine. Half of the resources come from other sites that use licensed its search engine (Yahoo! Excite, Free) and the other half from advertising.
To make Google a real cash machine, Brin and Page call in 2000 to Eric Schmidt, former leader of software maker Novell. And the founders of Google is not going to be disappointed. It is he who will lead the start-up Google web specialist advertising. On the main page of the search engine, “simplicity and efficiency.” “The ads are separated from the search to the right or top of the screen, as sponsored links,” says Sophie of Deserts.
“ To earn their place in heaven Google, advertisers play a kind of big auction. They bet on keywords that will get their headband and advance the amount they are willing to pay each time someone clicks on it. Advertisers commission studies to find the most effective keywords “, adds Sophie of Deserts. In 2003, Google sees the benefits of its investment in advertising and brand is elected in the year 4000 by professionals pub ahead of Apple, Coca-Cola and Samsung.
AdWords to justice
But if the system of Google ads is the envy It also dissatisfied. service Adwords promotional links, these small sponsored links that appear alongside the results pages that are related to the debtor by the visitor keyword, has been repeatedly sued. In 2004, “ insurance group Axa blames Google for allowing competitors to use brands as Axa Insurance or Direct to trigger the display of sponsored links unrelated to the owner ” , note Sainz Didier in Le Figaro in 2004. But Google does not want “ Advertisers are responsible for the keywords and ad text that they use in their ads “, explains Didier Sainz , yielding a set point published by Google in its news pages.
A decade later, the economist Pascal Perri formula summarizes the power of Google: “No other company in the world that Google has been able to return and among consumers. ”
With keywords and advertising Google knows everything about you and your interests, hobbies, consumption …. This is explained here.
5 – What happened to the historical rivals Google?
“ We will try to avoid the mistakes of our predecessors Lycos and Excite, also the origin of the search engines, but have continued to invest in technique to become great public portals c, “explained Sergey Brin in 2001 the journalist of Le Nouvel Observateur, Claude Soula .
A strategy quickly became pay … Gradually the search engines even though they had launched the dynamics before Google fall or are redeemed. “ Competitors wanted to diversify too quickly by offering a multitude of services through portals. Google remained on its core business, search engine ,” said economist Pascal Perri. Thus, e n 1998 “Compaq” buys “Digital” and transforms “AltaVista” in the portal. In 2003, the company “Overture” buys “AltaVista”. Then in 2004, “Yahoo!” bought Overture. Following this acquisition, the AltaVista engine is abandoned. Similarly, the search engine “Lokace” created in 1995, ceased operations at the end of 2001.Northern Light, which had initiated the method of “related topics” to organize the results, small files that aggregate the results by topic and therefore the various areas pertaining to the motion, it was also disappeared from radar screens. As for the famous “Lycos” that everyone remembers the famous mascot, the cute black labrador as the ad says is the “best friend of your research” … The portal has disappeared from European Web February 15, 2009 while he was held in place of the old gate.
6 – The war against MicrosoftIn the early 2000s, most competitors are eliminated. Result: while Google was not included in the 9th position in the ranking of the most visited in the United States in January 2002 sites, back in fifth position behind MSN and Ebay in March 2004. Nevertheless, another company still managed to overshadow him … Microsoft, the leader in operating systems is concerned about increasing the popularity of Google and tries everything to everything. In 2003, its leaders put $ 10 million on the table to buy Google. The proposal is a dead letter and tone up a notch. 2004 in Davos, during a speech, Bill Gates severely challenge his rival: “Google is a great company whose researchers as high as Microsoft twenty years ago-IQ” .
Between the two camps, all shots are allowed. “Microsoft have already begun to poach the brains at Google ,” said an article in the Tribune at the time. Microsoft also attacks on a technical level by developing its own search technology called “Longhorn” to integrate it into its operating system and cause users to forget Google without noticing. “ Users can not know if they carry out their research in their drive, their documents, email” , note Eric Leser in Le Monde in 2004.
But nothing happens, in 2006, Google literally crushes its competitors especially in France where it has this year 82.2% market share. “Very ahead MSN Search, Microsoft’s search tool” , says an article in the Tribune in 2004. A virtual monopoly worries Dominique Handle, author of “10 plagues Internet” and translator of the English version of Google Story: “ In the 1990s, many people did not hesitate to criticize Microsoft’s monopoly, Today it seems that the situation no longer surprise anyone Google “.
7-2004, the year of triumph
This is the largest IPO ever by an Internet company. “The start-up should capitalize 20-25000000000 dollars. For comparison, Amazon had raised that $ 54 million when it came on Nasdaq in 1997 and Ebay 63 million a year later,” said Jacques- Olivier Mart in the Figaro in 2004.
On 3 May 2004, Google finally this document 1,000 pages long awaited in the U.S. stock market authority (SEC) to kick sending procedure IPO of the company. But Page and Brin do not want to comply with the laws of the market. “Google is an unconventional company. We do not intend to become,” wrote the two founders of Google in the letter to the SEC.
“No preferential rate for banks, Articles latch control of the company and Google even hear, lese market, get rid of the dictatorship of good quarterly results “, explains Pascal Riche Liberation. What to trim the financial world and the financial press that annoys. “Do not be arrogant,” advises the Financial Times warns that “even young talents must sometimes accept the advice of others when times get tough.” The Canadian National Post goes even further: “The letter of Brin and Page is a manifesto antimarché worthy students.” At its IPO in 2004, Google shares could be acquired at $ 84. In May 2013, crossed the threshold of $ 900, its historical record. Action The Google IPO in 2004
8 – From Gmail to Google Glasses
Google Maps (2004), Google Earth (2005), YouTube (2005), Google Docs (2006), Gmail (open to the public in 2006 version), Google Calendar (2006), Google Chrome (2008) … The list is long so much that we ended up forgetting that most of the tools and services that are used on the web are the Google initiative. The company has built an empire on the web. And that’s not counting the investment in mobile with the system “Android” or in the sale of tablets that made Google a must.
Last gadget offered by Google, a pair of glasses, announced for 2014, which concentrates all the technologies of the company and promises to be a revolution for our everyday life. YouTube (see video below), some have pushed technology to its limits. A man asked “how a guy could use to more easily pick up a girl in a tryst.” There are a few more days, the group has also invested over 250 million in the service of private drivers, while working on driverless cars. In short, Google has no limits in its conquest of new technologies … This is not without some experts worry. “ Google offers, produces and sells everything. Tools on the internet, clothes, sunglasses, sneakers. It only needs the development of a means of payment such as a credit card and then they really rule the world “, ironically just Pascal Perri who cares one day to see Google become Big Brother and controlling all our purchases. “Google products are extremely effective, but such technology is free when it is never neutral,” says Dominique Handle.Even star of Norman home videos can not live without Google
And here is the video that shows the Google Goggles can be handy
9.. – The price of fame
Using Google has become so commonplace it has also forgotten some of its shortcomings as “Googling” which was already worried the press in 2003 . In an article in Point Violaine Monclot writes:. “ Google Book from a word all the information about registered Internet Applied to proper names, it becomes an incredible tool to learn more about colleagues, friends … or yourself. Smile, you’re stuck “.
Before an interview, before a meeting of the highest importance or simply out of curiosity, has become common practice. So much so that some have become addicted and practice “vanity Google” which is to be track-even on the internet to check that none of our privacy that could disturb not leak on the internet.
“ It is undeniable that Google provides access to a huge mass of information and culture in general. This is a very good thing for those who do not have access to culture. But culture can not be reduced to a sum of information s, “laments Barbara Cassin , director of research at CNRS and author of” Google me: the second mission of America. ” In his book (p.107), the philosopher is still concerned: “excellence of Google is to shorten your research time and can prevent your Google wandering. educate your way to ask so that your request is more appropriate to the way the engine is running and you quickly find the answers you want, but it can not and will not educate your request or your type of interest on which instead it relies satisfy you . ”
But what will become Google in fifteen or twenty years? “ I do not know who would dethrone Google. Perhaps creating a European public search engine. This would not need to index all but the fact that it avoids some public through “notes Dominiqe Handle. One certainty Pascal Perri: “Google has changed the world they pass over all (competition, taxation, protection of privacy, etc.) and have not done to circumvent the rules.”. But do not be evil Google launched its creation ….
Xavier Bonnehorgne
