CIOInsider India Magazine

Google has officially been around for 25 years, and it's been quite the journey. It is nearly impossible to for a life without the search engine, with Google receiving hundreds of searches every day. Today, Google produces hundreds of products that are utilized by billions of users worldwide, including Gmail, Google Search, YouTube, and Android. Here is a memory lane dating from the dot period.

Professors Cashed the Founders
When Page and Brin originally came up with the concept for the innovative and superior search engine, they were in need of the money to buy all the equipment, hard drives, and RAM needed. The professor helped secure $10,000 from the school's Digital Library fund since Brin and Page required the parts to build the data servers.

Was Named BackRub
The name BackRub refers to their initial emphasis on analyzing backlinks to gauge the prominence of websites. Fortunately, they eventually changed to the more recognizable Google.

Mathematical Encrypted Name
A play on the word googol, which denotes the sum of the digits 1 and 100 zeros, gave rise to the name Google. The name was chosen to represent the enormous volume of data that the search engine was intended to process.

Jeff Bezos was one of the Earliest Investors in 1998
Bezos invested $250,000 of his money to the startup search engine in 1998, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin's Google offices was a Menlo Park, California garage, as part of a $1 million follow-on investment round.

Planned for Sellout in 1999
In 1999, Google's co-founders Page and Brin offered to sell the company to the internet portal excite for less than $1 million, but excite declined the deal. Only the bargaining has caused this process to become disorganized.

Gmail Started Out as an April Fools Prank
On April 1st of 2004, Google's email service, Gmail, was introduced. The announcement was initially intended to be a prank, but it turned out to be a great double fake that launched a service that is today used by millions of people daily throughout the world.

Officially a Verb since 2006
The word Google is now frequently used even by people who don't use it as their primary search engine. The verb google now has the definition Search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet using the search engine Google. in the Oxford Dictionaries English.

Carbon Neutral since 2007
Since 2007, it has been carbon-neutral and has made a commitment to run entirely on renewable energy and makes significant investments in green technology.

Google Chrome Browser launched in 2008
Google introduced Chrome, its web browser, in 2008. Since then, it has grown to be one of the most widely used browsers worldwide, competing with Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox, among others.

Not Just a Search Engine
While Google is best recognized for its search engine, it has also made inroads into a number of other sectors, including artificial intelligence (DeepMind), smart homes (Nest), and self-driving cars (Waymo).

Internet Apocalypse in Five Minutes
On August 16, 2013, all Google services experienced a five-minute outage. The outcome? a startling 40 percent decline in internet traffic worldwide.

First Car in 2014
A Stanford University professor known as the father of the autonomous vehicle, Sebastian Thrun oversaw the start of Google's self-driving car project in 2009.

Jlo’s Iconic Green Dress Sparked the Start of Google Images
Google Images weren't made available to the general public until July 2001. However, after Jennifer Lopez’s year 2000 Grammy Award green outfit caught everyone's attention, and the Google search engine was flooded with inquiries regarding the picture. Even though it was the most often asked question at the time, Google lacked an effective strategy for meeting consumers' precise requirements. This encouraged Google to add image searches on their platform.

Algorithm Secrets Only Known by Select Engineers
One of the IT industry's best-kept secrets is Google's search algorithm. Only a small handful of engineers are aware of the precise mechanics of how it operates.

The Start of gBikers
This unusual program for commuting bikes started in 2007 with blue Huffys and has now developed into a fleet of beach cruisers in vibrant colors with baskets. It's noteworthy to note that none of these bikes have locks; instead, employees borrow them and park them around workplace entryways so that others can use them.

Owning Many Companies
Roughly 237 companies, totaling roughly $26.88 billion, are owned by Google. It has acquired numerous businesses just for their technologies. When Google is unable to complete a task on its own, it buys a solution and integrates it into its procedures. Google has acquired companies in a number of industries, including as social media networks, advertising, and cybersecurity.

Signed the YouTube Deal Over Mozzarella Sticks
You may be surprised, but it happened at a Denny's in Palo Alto, California, not at a modern corporate headquarters. Over mozzarella sticks and handshakes, the co-founders of YouTube and Google signed the historic $1.65 billion acquisition agreement in 2006, turning YouTube into the most popular video platform on the Internet.

Murder on the Maps!
In 2013, a lady shared a screenshot from Google Street View on Facebook showing a guy dragging a dead body. The picture rapidly went viral and sparked a lot of discussion before it was discovered that Rama, a wet dog, was actually the culprit and that the 'blood' was actually just water.

First Tweet
To promote its presence on the microblogging network Twitter, Google posted a binary Tweet in February 2009. The firm tweeted, "I'm 01100110 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010. I'm feeling lucky."

Tech GOAT Lawn Mowing with Goats!
Even though they are a technological company, their commitment to environmental sustainability surprises many. One method they employ specifically to do it is with goats. The goats keep the grounds under control rather than using machinery to trim the grass and preserve the property's appearance. Another benefit of having goats, according to Google employees, is that it makes working more enjoyable to see the goats out the window.

Quirky Style of Recruitment
Instead of waiting for others to get in touch with them with a CV or application form, they actively search for people they want to work for them. Through an online tool, Foo.bar, the company records keywords that people type into search engines. They specifically look for those who conduct searches including keywords linked to programing. One of these programing phrases is python, and if you type it into a search engine, Google might start to take an interest in you.

First Doodle
The initial Google Doodle was a message stating that the office was closed. At the time, Google was so young that their logo still included an exclamation mark from the Yahoo! design. Later, Google would say that the Google Doodle served as a light-hearted reminder to users that the founders were no longer in office at the time.

Google.com Available in 80 Languages
Google Translate, which facilitates communication between speakers of different languages and provides translations for 80 languages, has just added nine more languages, five of which are from Africa.

Offline Dino-run Game
The Dino Run game, which appears on Google Chrome when it detects the user is offline, was inspired by Stan, a T-Rex dinosaur standing outside of Google's headquarters.

Pet-Friendly since Opening
There are several reasons for it, including large offices, a vibrant office atmosphere, a varied food canteen, and many others. The accommodation of diverse people from various cultures is another remarkable aspect. Here, it offers fantastic employee perks including complimentary fine dining and on-site haircuts. In their specific dog policy, they clarify all the regulations for dog owners, including cleaning up after messes and being mindful of allergies.