Posts tagged Google

On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week.  Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.

Last week, Google announced a pilot program to roll out a 1GBPs internet service to select homes and businesses within the USA.  This is an aggressive push to rectify one of the horrible wonders of the Internet Age – The fact that the country that invented The Internet, has some of the slowest commercially available connections to it.  The article that I have chosen to feature is from the BBC.  Please give it a read here –

BBC News- Google to offer ‘ultra high-speed’ broadband in US

“[Google] plans to build a fibre-optic network offering speeds of up to 1Gbps (gigabit per second) to up to 500,000 homes.

It said it would compete on price with other broadband providers offering much slower speeds.

Google said the trial was about promoting killer apps that would take advantage of fast speeds.”

While this move can be seen as being completely self-serving since Google makes more money the more people use the Internet, I think that there is more here.  Google has a corporate history of moving into products that they feel “someone” should be providing.  There is a clear corporate culture here that takes initiative in areas that others should be, but are not. Some examples of this behavior are:

• Gmail. Providing Gmail with the idea that it would become the universal email provider.
• Electric Cars.  When no one else would fund, use, and push electric cars, Google did.
• Book Scanning.  No matter what you think of Google’s scanning of every book in the world project and its copyright implications, you have to admit that someone needed to start doing it.

Google’s famous “Do No Evil” policy is at work here.  My opinion, is that I am glad that a corporate citizen is moving us forward in so many Information Age vectors.  In many of these focus areas, I honestly wish that others were leading, but since none are, I am thankful that Google is.  I know that I would welcome a 1 GBPs Internet connection from any provider!

What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for February 14, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: Bay Ring Communications