Google's Internal Company Goals 144
Rockgod writes to mention a Google Blogoscoped article about an internal company paper. The paper details Google's big goals and directions for 2006. From the article: "The list included several items, for example: Google wants to have an improved infrastructure to make their engineers more productive. This includes allowing employees to have a universal search tool "containing all public Google information searched on all Google searches." Google also wants to build 10MW of green power to be on track to be carbon neutral. (They also want to reduce "Borg disk waste" by 50%... hmmm, Borg?)
borg (Score:2, Informative)
The Googlesphere (Score:4, Funny)
No chairs (Score:4, Funny)
And neither do we have Steve Ballmer to throw them...
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Don't you read Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
old news (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Don't you read Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
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Huh??? Google doesn't rely on ASP.NET or SQL Server. Google is the original LAMP shop.
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Re:Don't you read Slashdot? (Score:4, Informative)
Hmm, I really don't have a clue as to what platform Orkut is running on. Of course, the URL's on the site uses the ".aspx"-suffix but the returned server header says GFE:
# curl -I "https://www.orkut.com/"
HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://www.orkut.com/GLogin.aspx?done=https%3A%2
Content-Length: 0
Cache-control: private
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:58:40 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Server: GFE/1.3
...perhaps this means they're load balancing or similar, but still.
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Huh??? Google doesn't rely on ASP.NET or SQL Server. Google is the original LAMP shop.
First, I presume that the original poster was joking, because everybody knows that Google does not use ASP.NET or SQL Server (except perhaps in some properties they acquired). Second, Google may be an open source shop, but they are NOT a LAMP shop. They don't use a stack of off-the-shelf components at all.
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hmmm, you're line could be a joke too
but why on Earth are you modded informative!!!
to the post about this not being digg - yeah, this is slashdot, only the mods are made up!
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Borg (Score:4, Funny)
green power (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes me happiest about seeing Google do this is that they are such a role-model for next-generation businesses. If Google achieves carbon neutrality, even partially, the message it will send to corporations, start-ups, and individuals will be, "You can be environmentally conscious and financially successful; the two are not mutually exclusive." That's an important message that is only beginning to spread.
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Don't get me wrong, I think its great they strive for a such a thing, but I also think if they were struggling it would be dropped. Where we, as world citizens, need to focus carbon neutrality is in manufacturing and energy. Technology companies always appear ahead of the curve and cutting edge, all those relaxed environments of the dot.com'rs didn't parlay into a revolution as once thought.
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I think you mean aesthetics. An ascetic wouldn't care what color the tubes were.
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Imagine a big line of exercise bikes, loosely and efficiently coupled to a turbine...
I was leaving the Malibu Grill yesterday, and noting they had one of the wider revolving doors I've seen.
Considering the potential for gluttony at MG, they probably bring in some of the heavier members of society, justifying the door.
Harvesting energy from those carcasses would have a variety of personal, societal, enviro
Re:green power (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:green power (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw a promotional advertisement video on 'green' manufacturing, and while I do not buy into a lot of the whole 'save the world before it is too late' fear, I do believe that the concepts of green manufacturing just plain make sense to some degree.
Maybe being a programmer and being stuck in too many 'dungeons' makes me feel this way, but adding large windows, more greenery(plants) inside offices and plants (where they do not risk safety obviously) just makes employees feel such much better, that they're happier and more productive, aside from reduced heating bills due to solar heat (though, some factories don't have to worry about producing heat, hehe).
On the other hand, I doubt there is a lot of start-ups who could afford to invest their startup money on an expensive building, when that capital needs to be spent on... well, getting their company started. The problem always comes down to money, sure long term, it can save you money, after like 20+ years, but the premium on these places are high and most start-ups will move into pre-existing space. And when you want to start a business, you look at a $1 million building or a $10 million building, you're probably going to go for the $1 million building. Of course, if you become Google and light cigars with $100 bills, then you could probably afford a green building.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Re:green power (Score:4, Funny)
Yes safety first! I do so hate it when the office hydrangea goes on a rampage and kills the interns.
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
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While I do agree with you, it's worth pointing out that very few offices have to worry about heating costs even in the winter. In many offices, just the computers and ligh
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"You can be environmentally conscious and financially successful; the two are not mutually exclusive."
Well, I suppose it might look that way on the surface, but the question of whether that reflects reality is very much in doubt. The question that wouldn't be answered is whether Google is successful DESPITE environmentally conscious policies.
It all boils down to whether being environmentally conscious costs more money. And looking at whether a company is financially successful (i.e., makes more money
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Everybody is partially carbon neutral.
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Yeah 'cos startups and small business on tight margins will be running out to emulate a company with billions of dollars they don't know what to do with.
Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good company (Score:3, Insightful)
This isn't that much of a suprise though. When you have such a great product & a motivated team, you tend to attract the best & brightest. The best & brightest usually have the best ideas....
Brad
The payoff is PR (Score:2, Interesting)
I like Google's search product (though they seem to be
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If you are: They do not.
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They didn't "announce" it... (Score:3, Insightful)
If you think that someone is posting "internal" goals on the Internet without at least the tacit approval of the company, you're drinking Google's cool-aid. On top of that, you don't get as much bang for your buck if you announce in 2006 "We're going to strive for carbon neutrality sometime in the next couple of years" as you do announcing in 2007 "This year, Google met an 'internal' goal of becoming carbon neural."
I'm not saying that there isn't some portion of this that's genuinely driven
Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:5, Insightful)
Environmentally friendly practices are cheaper mid/long term. They're also more reliable if you consider the rate of electricity generating capacity being added in North America.
Re:Carbon Neutral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:2, Interesting)
And more specifically, Google's main offices are in California, so this also pays off in the categories of "outage prevention" and "minimization of utility company shenanigans".
Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, since they are beginning by building a 10MW solar electrical generating station, I would imagine at that scale solar is probably cheaper than the rate they are getting from their electric provider. If not, as a shareholder, I'm upset they are pissing away my dividends.
Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:5, Informative)
They note that their policies may not maximize profit. Their policies are set based on doing what's right, as deemed by the founders.
Maybe you should sell your shares.
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This is the first documentary evidence I have seen (however flimsy it is) that Google is not now prey to the US laws that mean that a public company in the US is virtually required to be "evil" if that is what secures the greatest profit.
Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:4, Informative)
Disclaimer: I work at Google.
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Nowhere did I state that I had a vote on how they would do things. I can still express my opinion if I think they are mis-managing my money.
That being said, in their IPO letter [google.com], Larry clearly stated:
and
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Most companies have yet to understand that building goodwill is profitable, not only that, people are also more likely to "donate" through purchasing product/services simply to support your efforts even if they do not particulary need what your selling.
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Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:2)
If Google succeeds and helps engineer more efficient power production or conservation methods, they will have opened up a new business model, too: selling green technology and possibly selling power, both of which can net Google a lot of cas
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That is nonsense. Google is not going to build their own power transmission system. The power generation facility is useless without transmission; therefore it is useless without "the grid". Google also depends on the communications grid
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I didn't mean that every Google facility would be "off the grid", but reducing their reliance on grid power can insulate their energy demands during energy spikes and can smooth out their energy costs.
Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:2)
They can trade millions of dollars worth of carbon credits that they're not using.
Re:Carbon Nuetral?...Google really is a good compa (Score:2)
What short-term or even mid-term payoff could there possibly be to being carbon nuetral?
Is it really so much of a strech to predict that environmental regulations are only going to get tighter in the future? That there's going to be Carbon allowances? That there's going to be EPA constraints on carbon imbalance?
Google is future-proofing itself at a time when they certainly have the resources to do so. That's just sound business policy.
Ten years down the road when y'all get your hefty carbon-surcharge
Heard this one before (Score:4, Insightful)
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If Snapon were MS, it would be ONLY Snapon tools, which fit specially in the Snapon drawers which are installed in every mechanic's toolchest. Craftsman and SK tools never really fit correctly when stored in a Snapon drawers.
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CC.
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Nor any mention of people who release their software to the public domain, the really, honestly and truly good guys! :-)
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So now they're a proper company? (Score:1)
"Borg disk waste" (Score:5, Funny)
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I can tell what your parents did for a living by the content of your posts.
You can? Even six word posts?
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Products being reduced by 20% (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Products being reduced by 20% (Score:5, Insightful)
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They meant something else (Score:5, Funny)
10MW (Score:3, Interesting)
If they were to do this via solar:
315 peak watts per pannel at 1560mm x 800mm per pannel
31,746 pannels required assuming peak of 10MW and not constant
1.248 square meters per pannel times 31,746
425,000 square feet of space (approximately)
For those still with me, that's 9.8 acres of solar pannels, producing [in that region of CA] approximately 18GWh per year. That's about $3,600,000 worth of energy per year in CA.
Some recommendations: Don't just cover the tops of your buildings. Created additional semi-covered parking with solar pannels atop, consider wind. GE makes one of the most efficient wind turbines out there. For each one of those you can fit on your property, you're likely to save about an acre of land required for solar. And though their peak power coverage isn't as great, they're in operation when the sun's down
Unfortunately for google, the wind in cali is not that good for wind power [except offshort]. Though, some parts near the SF area do have slightly better ratings.
http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/wind/WIND_POWER_50M
I think the one thing that companies overlook is. There's no absolute requirement that being carbon neutral requires you to power your own stuff with the energy. How about investment in a wind farm in southwest kansas [excellent location for wind power]. Or 10 acres of Solar pannels in Mexico? I think helping Mexico reduce carbon usage is probably better (polution wise) than helping the US...
Related and interesting fact (Score:5, Interesting)
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On the other hand, when the pacific is in night, the world probably uses less power for lights than when Eurasia/africa is. Though due to A/C, the power load may even out...
New Google location? (Score:1)
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But isn't Google planning a new facility in the Oregon Columbia River Gorge which is otherwise known as the 'wind surfing capital of the world'? There is plenty of power there already generated from Rivers (non carbon) and with the wind channeled in the gorge, perhaps there is an opportunity for that as well. -Solar power there would be a bad idea hehe.
I lived out there for a couple of years. It tends to be uncloudy (once you go far enough to the west) so there's a lot of solar power. But the whole area
google solar parking (Score:2)
Most of the Google parking lot is under the Google buildings and campus courtyard. The Google (fromer SGI) campus is essentually built atop a large underground parking garage. At least for their Mountain View, California campus. Putting solar collectors on their roofs is pretty much their only option as their campus is surrounded by parks and other office buildings.
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I'd prefer to see companies actually benefit from improved efficiencies and sustainable power, otherwise what is it r
Google's goals ... (Score:1)
*ducks (chair)*
borg.google.com (Score:4, Interesting)
Reading the comments of the article, "Jake" suggests that borg refers to borg.google.com, a very important internal subdomain. (James Bradbury)
A quick search revealed:
Google Finance Leaks Version Two Information (Search Engine Watch Blog, 2006-07-21). com/finance [google.com], which seems to not be accessible from my location, or outside of Google's network. Notice the sign of the borg again? borg.google.com from before. So, now we have rumors that Google is going to be launching a version two of Google Finance soon. Maybe it includes stock indices from other worlds? :)... (http://www.webrankinfo.com/english/seo-news/topic -16812.htm [webrankinfo.com])
Garett Rogers stumbled upon a link in Google Finance at the top right corner that said "v2 (test)" in red font. The link points to http://0.frontend-live.sfe.scrooge.hs.borg.google
I found this [mssem.com] to be a little funny as well.
Goals for 2007 (Score:3, Funny)
By 2020, they hope to be matter-neutral.
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I mean, imagine if electricity produced a surplus of water. Hugely beneficial byproduct in the short term for countries with droughts, but if you use the technology too much the oceans will start to rise and coastal cities go poof.
Being "matter-neutral" is a reasonable goal to have.
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Now, I know what they mean - with regards to (hydrocarbons + O2 <-> CO2 + water + energy) they operat
I work at google (Score:3, Funny)
They use pagerank to determine what needs to be archived more/less, but the algo is too agressive... and the only way to communicate with them is on a one-by-one basis. Once you get one archiver killed on the machine, another is likely to be placed there by a different archiver.
Last march everything went wild and almost brought us down. They're nicknamed borg since they take over just about everything they touch. Since then we've created new bots to fight the archivers... the fight is predicted to continue well into next year.
(posting anon for obvious reasons)
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Dear Google,
Please keep those Borg fed well. Feed them servers daily! I prefer not to be ASSimilated.
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You are full of shit (Score:5, Insightful)
-B
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Ooops! (Score:2)
Seems like someone blew their cover this time. And here we all thought it was Microsoft...
here's a Google Wishlist (Score:1)
Lasers! (Score:2)
Green lasers? They're going to want sharks, too. Does anyone know how I can buy shark futures?
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=Smidge=
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By contrast, their photos section gives 250MB, and I've used 2MB already in MUCH less time than the 11MB on GMail. If they REALLY had 2.7GB for each user, I could use some of that for my photos.
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I also always wondered if they take advantage of people sending stuff to another gmail account by not actually duplicating attached files (with some reference counting scheme to detect files that no one use anymore)
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Actually, that would've been quite clever of them and they could effectively offer more disk space per user as the userbase increases since more users would be cross-sending emails through GMail.
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Re:This is nice but... (Score:5, Funny)
> Brain exploded, WISEASS.SYS corrupted.
> (A)bort/(R)etry/(F)ail?
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Yeah, but Paris is Open Source...
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I think you mean that their value is not backed up by capital equipment. While that is true the majority of the investor market does not seem to mind much, and I suspect it puts Google's ROI up there pretty well.
But I do enjoy the irony of the 'information wants to be free' crowd loving a company with a value based almost entirely on intellectual assets.
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My father is a retired industrial engineer. He now does odd jobs fixing houses, etc. Hi assets are entirely intellectual, if you look at it the same way. The real value is the service he provides... Work done cheap, right, and quick. He can perform those services thanks to the years and years of experience and knowledge that he has.
I see Google in the same light. If they had all this info, and no
You've all missed the point (Score:2)
I'm just saying to all the "everyone should do this" people that they shouldn't expect a "normal" company to be able to do this. Google has grossed $15B in the last four years. It's worth, on paper, $120B. $105B of that money is "future potential".
Guess that's the rule here, though - never open the curtain on the chosen few. So, in penance I offer the following:
Microsoft Sucks! Apple Rules! Down with SCO!
Mmmmm, I feel better already.
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-1 troll on a comment that removing pingpong tables might increase productivity?
I guess google engineers get karma, too.