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Google Is in China Cloud Talks With Tencent, Others, Report Says (bloomberg.com)
Google wants to get back into China, and is laying the groundwork for a key part of the initiative: bringing its cloud business to the world's second-largest economy. Bloomberg: The internet giant is in talks with Tencent Holdings, Inspur Group and other Chinese companies to offer Google cloud services in the mainland, according to people familiar with the discussions. They asked not to be identified discussing private matters. The talks began in early 2018 and Google narrowed partnership candidates to three firms in late March, according to one of the people. Trade tensions between China and the U.S. now loom over the effort. It's unclear if the plans will proceed, this person said.
The goal is to run Google internet-based services -- such as Drive and Docs -- via the domestic data centers and servers of Chinese providers, similar to the way other U.S. cloud companies access that market. In most of the rest of the world, Google Cloud rents computing power and storage over the internet, and sells a collection of workplace productivity apps called G Suite that are run on its own data centers. China requires digital information to be stored in the country and Google has no data centers in the mainland, so it needs partnerships with local players. Further reading: Google Plans To Launch Censored Search Engine In China, Leaked Documents Reveal.
The goal is to run Google internet-based services -- such as Drive and Docs -- via the domestic data centers and servers of Chinese providers, similar to the way other U.S. cloud companies access that market. In most of the rest of the world, Google Cloud rents computing power and storage over the internet, and sells a collection of workplace productivity apps called G Suite that are run on its own data centers. China requires digital information to be stored in the country and Google has no data centers in the mainland, so it needs partnerships with local players. Further reading: Google Plans To Launch Censored Search Engine In China, Leaked Documents Reveal.
Say 'cloud' one more goddamn time!
I dare you! I double-dare you!
if we run low on jet fuel will our digits overheat & meld into some weatheresque entity? cease fire stand down.. we want to still be heare when the real weather comes back around.. after we stop spewing carbon everywhere... see you there..
Anywhere else and the wonks would be screaming protectionism. But here, it's just a cost of doing business.
We all agree that Google finally succumbed to the whims of the Chinese.
For Google to have any consequential initiatives in China, they will need to sort out their messaging regime. Without a WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat or even Telegram competitor, they (Google) are wasting time.
Sadly, these "smart" minds at Google never seem to learn.
why does google feel the need to capitulate? i blame pikachu.
why does google feel the need to capitulate?
$.
for google to have any consequential initiatives in a police state that censors oppression of minorities and other abuses, it has to join in the evildoing....
In these dark times liberalism just isn't good business, and its phony 'leaders' sure aren't helping any!
Google refuses to work with the U.S. military, but they're going all-in on China and implementing their censorship system. As a U.S. citizen, I'm starting to question their priorities.
They are engineers, not businesspeople.
An innate sense of good business is surprisingly not common among most people, in my experience. Engineers help build things, they don't build businesses.
Why do you think Sergey and Larry had a "chaperone" of sorts in Eric Schmidt when their little search engine research project blew up in popularity in the last couple decades?
That doing evil is part of doing business. F Google.
The Chinese will want Google to adjust its US rankings in order to get more business in China. Google will resist, for a while. It will not be overt, just like the self censorship that stops one upsetting a customer.
However, even the slightest hint of that type of malpractice will damage the Google brand. And an 1% loss of US business is far greater than anything they will actually get out of China.
The other issue is that they will need lots of Chinese speaking employees or partners to make this work. And those people will learn far more about Google than Google will learn about China.
Will Chinese search engines be able to take business in the USA? Not directly, but they may sell a service to other companies that decide to try. There is so much money in search that even someone as small as Duck Duck Go can make money.
I was impressed when Google management said no to China some years ago. A wise, strategic decision.
"Please Presidient Xi, our shareholders will be happy with a 10% stake in a new market, so please take our technology that we paid to develop and run it yourselves. Just please don't take the code and try to relaunch in the US at a subsidized rate in the future that puts us under."
Their employees complain about helping the US govt, but hand off tech to a country that is actively using tech for widespread surveillance, genocide of muslims, imprisonment of political adversaries, and militarisation of the south china sea against international agreements and court decisions, and the list continues. Where are their employees for this one? The US is bad but this is ok? really?