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October 04, 2005
Google Will Soon Take Over the World
Yes, another post about Google. Why? Well, i've been sending my friends posts every few days (as that is how frequently Google makes the tech news headlines), and there are just too many threads of seemingly related interest to avoid mentioning it. But why, and how, is Google doing such an extreme thing as taking over the world? Well, see for yourself:
Past and Present Timeline:
- Google is a household name because of search
- Google introduces photo searching
- Google introduces Froogle, the online shopping search engine
- Google launches GMail, a direct competitor to Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, and in some ways Outlook, b/c it allows POP access and AJAX-enabled advanced UI features
- Google launches GoogleTalk, a direct competitor to AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. This also integrates VOIP free internet phone calling, competing directly with Skype (now owned by Ebay) and beginning to threaten long-distance companies
- Google launches Google Maps and Google Earth, allowing it to geographically pinpoint any place on earth and link it up with its vast amount of internet search data
- Google quietly buys miles of dark (unused) fiber optic cable (used for high-speed Internet connections), possibly allowing itself to create its own part of the Internet
- Google starts an initiative in San Francisco to offer free and secure wireless internet access points across the city
- Google demos ability to search TV and video streams, and advertises position for GoogleTV product manager
- Google makes a partnership with Sun Microsystems, a long-time Microsoft competitor (think Java), allowing it access to OpenOffice and OpenSolaris, open-source (free) software suites that are competitors to Microsoft's Office and Windows packages.
Now, all of this is what has already happened, as of today. As you may know, i like rumor and speculation, and so what could this all mean?
[Possible] Future Timeline:
- Google makes free wireless internet available in all major U.S. cities; people only have to download a simple Google VPN client to login
- Google develops web-enabled version of OpenOffice called GoogleOffice; people use this online, from any browser, on any computer, with no installation necessary
- Google creates customer support (the biggest thing missing from open-source software) for Google Office via Google Talk - people need only to make a free VOIP call on Google Talk to get help
- Google finishes scanning all of the world's books into its system, housing the entire collected knowledge of the world (in written, published form)
- Google finishes indexing all of the world's TV and video, housing all visually recorded information
- Google allows users to save (and never delete) their Google Office documents on Google servers (just like GMail messages)
- Wireless internet phones (that use VOIP) become available, and Google offers free mobile phone calling over its Google wireless network (call it Google Mobile)
- With the abiliy to compare Amazon to every other e-commerce vendor, people begin to use Froogle for all their online shopping needs
- Google search, Google Office, GMail, Google Talk, GoogleTV, Google Mobile, and Froogle are used by 95+% of people to write documents, send messages, make phone calls, watch TV and video, and make purchases; with all this data saved on or passing thru Google servers, Google soon has access to every bit of information written, spoken, photographed, video-recorded, or purchased by almost everyone in the world
- Free Google wireless internet is used by 95+% of people; in combination with Google Maps, Google can pinpoint the exact location of anyone using its services, and link that to all the data the person has written [using Google software]
- Google becomes the most popular, and soon only, source of information acquisition and creation, transitioning from being the juggernaut of the software industry to the overlord of all the world's information.
And as they say, information (a.k.a. knowledge) is power ;)
Uh, ok, so maybe the last part is a wee bit extravagant. But the 'Current' section has already happened, so look out! And if you don't agree with my future predictions, make up some of your own and tell me in the comments. :)
Posted by MaTT at 09:07 PM | Comments (2)