It was on this day in 1998 that Google was first incorporated as a company. Google was the brainchild of two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They designed a search engine with one important difference from all the others: Instead of giving you results based on how many times your search term appeared on a Web page, they created software that would figure out how many times each relevant Web site was linked to from other relevant Web sites and sorted those and then laid them out for you, all on a clear, simple screen. Google is now an incredibly powerful and profitable company. At a time when most major companies are losing money, Google continues to grow, and reported revenues of $5.52 billion in the second quarter of this year. In June of 2006, "Google"was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb.
Although September 4th is the official day of Google's incorporation, as Google's own help center explained: "Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake." Most years, it is celebrated toward the end of September.
Doesn't everyone like to Google? Good thing those computer gods went out on a limb to create it. I mean, I don't think anyone is planning to add "Bing" to the OED as a verb. I do so love technology, especially Macs and Google and iPod Touches and all the glory that is white, streamlined architecture. But it also entirely changed my existence, and I'm not positive it's all for the best.
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