Ode to Google

I have been a Google fan ever since a coworker at one of my internships (summer 2002) showed me how to look up a transistor by its part number. I thought Google was a tool for searching a database of electrical components. Little did I now. As I became more familiar I was very quick to break up with Yahoo and jump on the Google bandwagon.

Then, the next year I had a roommate at BYU (Clint Jones) who loved Google. He explained to me that it was a better search engine because the company was a bunch of PhD's. So at this point I understood a little bit more. Google consisted of a group of PhD's sitting in a room, mastering the search engine. That was cool enough.

I think the next encounter I had with Google was their goofy "Job Application" that I found lying all over the place on campus when I started graduate work here at Stanford. They had lots of fun puzzles and silly questions; I can't solve most of the hard ones. I took it as a fun joke that they would take seriously if you would. Since then, it's just gotten better and better: Picassa, Google Earth, Gmail, and their general attitude.

I may not always like Google. Like most companies, it will likely eventually get too fat to walk. It may eventually become the public enemy, another Microsoft. But I do believe Google represents the American dream for several reasons. Let me explain.

Spread the wealth to the masses: Of course Google isn't giving away free money. They're not campaigning for stricter taxes (Robin Hood style taxing). In fact, they're not trying to impose anything on anyone else. They are a company seeking profit. But at the same time they are making incredible tools available to the general public. In my view, Google has maintained an innocent image. When I install a Google product I don't usually have to suspect that they are trying to lure me into using an expensive product, trying to capture my business so that I'm stuck using them in the future, or even trying to make profit off me. I suspect all of these things with other companies, especially Microsoft. Google feels like a young active company that came across instant success and is using some of their power, ambition, and energy to see how they can change the world for the better. Yes, I know that they are a public company, and altruism can only go so far in that setting, but I like to believe that the hacker mentality does have its influence there. Think of all the Linux developers who spend so much effort toward the same goal.

Free enterprise is meant to work this way. When a person (or company) gets rich it is supposed to mean that they are benefiting society in the process. It's not necessary to be bitter and demand pieces of their wealth (proportional taxes). Sometimes it is hard to see where the benefit to society is going, but with Google it's not. Everyone is free to benefit from them.

Entrepreneur's Dream: Google was started as a research project by a couple of Stanford students in 1996. Now, ten years later, it is part of the English language (added to several dictionaries this year). It will always stand out in history as a phenomenon. I hope it will be remembered as the great experimenter. That's what I find so exciting about it. I never know what new great product they are going to try to get out to us. I have a friend who explains it this way: "Google likes to break things." Break the frugality of free email, break the expense of organizational software, break the barriers that hinder research, break Microsoft (Excel).

I read about Google on Wikipedia today. I don't know about you, but I feel a sense of urgency and excitement. I wonder, where was I ten years ago? Google is a success story that everyone, especially around here (Stanford), talks about. It's the story every entrepreneur dreams of.

So there you have it: I'm a Google fan. I hope to always be, but I can't promise you that much.