Google is setting up their base in Kenya (read the full story here ). Now that's what is called making the real difference in the world. Really! They have money and so do others, but Google, so early in its life-span, is trying to change the world for better in its own innovative way.One of my colleagues, a couple of years earlier had told me about this display in the Google reception office which had a 3-D globe on the screen and the small points of light that were blinking at various places. These light-points illuminated the places around the world where people were using Google search at that instant. I remember he told me what he was told about Africa looking at the display, it was indeed the dark continent with very little light emanating from it. When I saw this display myself, it was so surreal. With Internet penetration hardly anything, this was but natural to observe.
But the interesting part is not just observing and pondering but taking action. Setting up of a Kenyan office is indeed a concrete step toward making technology accessible to all, irrespective of geography, infrastructure, policy and various other kinds of issues. It strengthens my belief that technology (and especially Internet) is (and has the potential of) bridging numerous barriers that was not possible earlier.
3 comments:
Google..really they have their own ways to make impact.Sometimes, I feel they will have a separate team serving for innovativeness and nothing else.I mean a team totally dedicated for thinking innovative ideas.
Cool post... yeah, these are all welcome developments. My intention is not to play devil here, but behind this move of google there would be sound business logic as well - africa is a potential untapped market for sure... and i am sure they are looking a decade ahead and saying "well, some of these countries (e.g. Kenya) might become economically and would make business sense"... not to take anything away from their good intentions highlighted in the post, just that i think this is not pure charity.
Waise, that funda ab't 3-d at the reception is super cool... i understand that google keeps track of tons of data on usage patterns of google...
@yogsma: well quite possible that they have such a team or the environment is such that it fosters innovative thinking in everyone. If everyone is giving out even a single idea a month (or even an year), chances are pretty high that some of these ideas are ground-breaking.
@anupam: I completely agree with you, I definitely missed that point in the post, they are a business, so the first thing is that whatever they do has to make business sense atleast in the longer run. None of this would seem charity anywhays when their proposed office becomes highly profitable in days to come. This apart, they might not be motivated by business alone, they have enough money and are not afraid to take risks.
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