Am I the only person who get’s a lil hot n’ bothered at the mere mention of Google?  Back in the day whilst perling away in Unix, I found Google in its Beta launch.  Much like the first time I laid eyes on Angelina Jolie in Hackers, I felt my loins churning…

My daily routine at work these days is to start the morning with a peppermint tea while perusing 50 or so blog feeds.  Each morning, there are always at least 5 Google tidbits… and I hark  back to the days of Microsoft in the early 90s, when it was the “go-to”, cool place to work, the revolutionary tech company that was going to change our lives more than the baby bottle (ask your inner feminist about this – it really has!)

Truth is, Microsoft changed the world.  Sure, there’s all the talk of monopolistic activities, unfair business practices, etc… but let’s face it – what they’ve beneavolently done is given business a common language.  How many companies don’t use Excel (oh how I love Excel)… how many salesmen don’t bore clients with inane powerpoint presentations… how many of us start drooling with the Pavlovian appearance of the Outlook flasher letting us know a new email has arrived?

But, Google is a weird one.  They have about a 65% search market share in the US, Canada and UK (let’s not mention how they’re getting their asses kicked in Korea though!)  They are providing enterprise solutions in an apparent attempt to take on Microsoft… and they are providing fodder for management gurus the world around.  But has Google changed the world?

On my favorite blog, Cool News of the Day, there is a great summarization of Google management tactics.  With their free-wheeling 7 person teams, the famous 10% project time rule, and a million weird little projects in beta, some reckon that they are the incubator of the next wave of the web.

Others reckon that Google has gotten too big to be cool anymore.  Just like my bygone days working during the NASDAQ boom, I too wonder if Google is sustainable (as Microsoft has proven to be), or if it will become another huge, cumbersome monolith like Yahoo (notwithstanding the second coming of Jerry Yang).

The best way Google can change the world? Blackle.  It seems my love for Google has gone jungle fever.

Giggity googly indeed.

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