Google Tidbits

XeroCool writes "Alan Williamson got invited to BayCHI lecture at PARC by Marissa Mayer (Product Manager for Google) to talk about google and get the facts. They both were in a room and Alan got some good facts about Google. One fact was: The name 'Google' was an accident. A spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for 'Googol'."

Comments

Whaa??

[Jozone]

How could someone not know HTML, yet be able to write googles algorithm? Dont most programmers laugh at the easyness of html?

Re:Whaa??

[Antonymous Flower]

Knowledge does not come miraculously from the sky! Looking up HTML codes takes up precious time. Most coders don't like to stop to tie their shoe laces either. If its functional, leave it alone.

Re:Whaa??

[Anonymous Coward]

Used to. But then the w3c nazis crept in and insisted on all sorts of "strictness", in a corporate-sponsored effort to turn the web into something only pros can afford to participate fully in. Fortunately, browsers are still permissive enough to render "old style" html that your granny can write in a text editor because it was actually easier than learning a new WYSIWIG interface.

Everything after HTML 3.2 is complete crap. XML is just lisp sexps reimmplemented extremely badly, and it's not a markup language, damnit.

Re:Whaa??

[paganizer]

I hate XML.
it's a totally useless waste of enthusiasm, and used for far too many things it shouldn't be used for.
Like, for instance, anything involving security.
Of course, that is just an opinion.

Re:Whaa??

[CySurflex]

I wouldn't say HTML is easy. I would say that it's a skill that people without a programming background can pick up which is why it has an easy reputation. To really be an HTML guru you would have to spend a lot of time and understand the structure and the theory.

(Note - I'm a programmer, but I do ok with HTML)

Reveals Google's Access to Large Data Sets

[filmmaker]

The article highlights the key to Google's success: constant feedback via formal studies and data analysis, and access to very large data sets. It's like the webmaster that pours over his Urchin stats and tweaks his website according to his current traffic patterns.

That kind of dilegence makes for an improved quality of experience for the person visiting the site, and increases the traffic for the webmaster. Google applies that same dilegence on a global scale.

I Feel Lucky

[spac3manspiff]

"I feel lucky" is nearly never used. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button.

Exactly, "I'm Feeling lucky" keeps "Google" search from looking naked for some odd reason. It's Genious.

I think it's a subliminal messege to stop researching for your english project and search for "Paris hilton nude".

Re:Foxy Lady...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hate to break it to you, but that's often the base selection criteria for a lot of public-facing people. Basically, you're being manipulated via the hormone method. Get yourself some good porn and the glamour soon wears off.

Small populations

[fisheye1969]

I'm not sure about the use of small user populations for testing.

I wrote something about this in a blog article, though the references have yet to be added which I'll do later today.

However, I'm happy to admit that Google seem to be doing plenty of correct things. Gmail has become my email of choice so the interface can't be that bad, and the main Google page has always been cool for me. Before that, I used to use alltheweb.com in preference to the big portal sites, but Google's results seemed, well, better. Alltheweb kept returning pages of documents from the same domain which was frustrating.

Re:The annoying "Did you mean" feature

[BrianGa]

This is probably what I consider the top non-search related feature on Google. It allows me to virtually mash the keyboard in the general vicinity of what I meant, and then follow the suggestions.

Yes, the alternatives are much better.

[Jerk City Troll]

I would prefer that every damn application utilize its own, unique, and poorly documented formats. I mean, all that metadata is such a hassle when you want to go in and understand what a file contains! It gets in the way and is overall just so tacky.