Google to boldly go where no search engine has gone before

Google Factory Tour marked not only the launching of new services, but also a change in Google’s relation with the press.

From a company that was very secretive about its projects, Google is turning in to one that is more media friendly. It is still uncertain if Google Factory Tour was a PR success or not, but Google officials made enough statements to make analysts wonder what will be Google’s future.

The launching of Google Fusion, which allows each user to personalize the search engine’s start page, was the first novelty to make everyone wonder if Google wants to become a portal. The MSN and Yahoo portals already offer personalizing features, My MSN and My Yahoo, so the majority of analysts are already sure that we are witnessing the birth of a new portal.

In our opinion, Google has proven too many times that it doesn’t like to copy, but to innovate, so in conclusion it’s more likely that the company will try to reinvent the concept of portal rather than offering something similar to the competition.

We have to keep two things in mind: Google didn’t charge money from end-user for any of the offered services and secondly, the company’s main revenue source is online advertising, which is not case for other portals.

So, Google Fusion is more like an attempt to individualize even more the ads seen by the users rather than trying to become a portal. It’s likely that in the next versions of Google Fusion, users might be given the opportunity to choose an ad flux, which would suit much better Google’s philosophy: you are offered, but you are not forced to accept.

Last, but not least, let’s not forget that despite the humongous number of visitors, Google knows little of its users, and lately, all of Google’s newly launched services require an account, so the likelihood of Google to launch more services aimed at finding out more about its users is very high.

The commotion caused by Google Fusion shadowed an even more revolutionary and interesting project. Google has announced the developing of an automatic translation program which will support languages from all ONU countries.

Automatic translations are no news, but their quality leaves a lot to be desired. If Google succeeds to introduce a software application that will provide 90% accurate translations, this will not only change the Internet, but the human society itself.

In conclusion, the stakes go beyond Google’s transformation in a portal or the providing of better services.

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