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Google Plans to Reveal Some of its Code
Andy Beal writes "According to Australia's The Age, Google plans to reveal some of the code it uses to great success. It says '
"The time has come for Google to "give something back", Wayne Rosing, the company's vice-president of engineering, told students while on a recruiting drive in Melbourne last week.
"There have been a lot of conversations in the company in the past two months about (how) . . . it's time for us to give something back. So our technical director, Craig Silverstein, has started a project to look at all the Google code and start figuring out what parts of it we want to give back," Rosing said.'"
Google's done so much for the quality of web searching that I think they've already given us far more back than I could ever ask for. The only thing I could ask of them is to keep up the good work, and try and keep pagerank useful by stopping exploiters who falsely boost ranks. Other than that, some good old free thinking and continual innovation for the web, which is what they do all the time, is little to ask for. I just hope the momentum doesn't die.
- tristan
I'm sure google isn't stupid, but I'd hate for them to reveal anything that the search engine "optomizers" will leverage to further spam the search results.
While Google is probably telling more of a truth than Sun is how do we really know until we see the code?
You don't. But rather than just bitching about it, how about you just exercise some patience and wait a little while? Counting them out before they even get started is a little unfair, don't you think?
The actual source surely isnt actually *that* important. It might have been way back in the beginning, but not so much anymore.
..."
I'm quite convinced that the code itself is relatively simple, each node handling its own small piece of the puzzle.
It would take years before anyone actually making use of the code could build up the infrastructure and reputation that google has got, in the meantim,e we could make some seriously funky projects out of it.
I would love to be able to incroporate google search algorythms and procedures into (for instance) an SQL query, and allow searching of the myriad of OFFLINE data we have here.
"select (feeling_lucky) from customerrecords
At the very worst, the code becomes an academic curiosity, at the best, googles algorythm becomes as well adapted as Huffman coding or the bubblesort.
liqbase
I'm guessing the answers are "no" and "no". SEOs (search engine exploiters) would only damage google if google gave out their source code for pagerank. And each change to pagerank has been accompanied with much speculation in the SEO community about what the change was, with lots of graphs and experiments and gnashing of teeth. So no, I'm pretty sure we never have and never will see the source for PageRank.
I totally disagree. I think the GoogleFS is a much more valuable commodity than the search algos. I mean, frankly, I doubt think the search algos are that brilliant, past the initial lightbulb of PageRank... just refinements and optimizations. The tough part is harnessing the -insane- computing power necessary to serve the world's searching needs, and doing it cheaply.
Despite that, I do hope you're right, and maybe you are... since the distributed FS/OS they've developed is, like I said, so much more valuable. What good would search algorithm descriptions do anyone except aid their competition? I can't stick Google's algorithms into anything I have... but a nifto OS that can combine a few computers and let me run stuff across them trivially? -THAT'S PRETTY COOL-
Google doesn't have to give anything back, at least not to me. It's enough for me that they are by far the best search engine; lightning fast, accurate, comprehensive, free and with no obtrusive advertising...
They don't "have to" give anything back, but the idea is that they are acting altruistically. They feel that the public has supported their company (via usage, interest in the IPO, jobs, income, etc), that they recipricolly owe something substantial to the consumer.
Read a little Ayn Rand (like Atlas Shrugged) for the concept... Essentially, corporations (whether private or not) derive their status as a legal "person" from implicit trust the public has placed in them. As such, corporations have an obligation to provide service back to the community and to act in a moral fashon... I for one am glad to see that this company is acting in this accord, instead of all of the depravity we have seen as of late.
-jokerghost