What was Google's Greatest Achivement of 2008?

[AussieWebmaster]

Okay am looking for opinions on this one... and debates over them.

What do you think was Google's greatest achievement in 2008 - good or bad.

How their stock price gutted my kids' education fund would be a major bad one!

Interestingly I wrote a review yesterday that seems to have grabbed a few of the top spots for a search for Google 2008 review

am wondering what the above link will do for the search link... anyone care to give a guess! Does Google filter its own search results from the search results?

[rapidvectorseo]

Frank, i can't say about Google achievement but for you, i can say you did wonderful job by getting top spot for "Google 2008 Review"...

[BasicECommerce]

I guess it depends on how you look at it. In terms of Google improving the industry, nothing I can speak of as being 'great'. However, in terms of achievements specific for Google, swooping in to muck up any and all Yahoo/MSN talks with very little effort was impressive. They didnt even dirty their hands.

[JohnW]

Not related to search but I think it's pretty cool that they invested in esolar and brightsource. These are startup electric power companies that are using concentrated solar energy instead of coal to run steam turbine generator plants.

[jimbeetle]

Can't really think of much else. Yeah, the scuttling of the Y!/MSN deal is pretty prominent. In search, probably the more aggressive move to personalization.

But maybe the most notable might be Chrome; the introduction of the long rumored and awaited browser that was long denied being in development and that hasn't exactly taken the world by storm as of yet. I have to wonder what's coming in along behind it.

[AussieWebmaster]

think Chrome rolls into an OS from Google

[rapidvectorseo]

Originally Posted by AussieWebmaster

think Chrome rolls into an OS from Google

I won't expect more functional qualities from Google OS... They won't make it better than Vista or even XP...

[jimbeetle]

OS from Google

Yep, what I had back of mind. And now I just saw Brett's post over at WmW pointing to VentureBeat's Android netbooks on their way, likely by 2010 article.

Here’s the significance: Imagine the billion dollar market at stake here if Google can make good on this vision. Netbooks are basically small-scale PCs. For Silicon Valley myriad of software companies, it means a well-backed, open operating system that is open and ripe for exploitation for building upon. Now think of Chrome, Google’s web browser, and the richness it allows developers to build into the browser’s relationship with the desktop — all of this could usher in a new wave of more sophisticated web applications, cheaper and more dynamic to use.

The folks at VB got Android up and running on an Asus EEEPC 1000H netbook in about four hours.

[AussieWebmaster]

exactly... and Windows is what it is because it is preloaded... if that changed we would get used to other OS

[bradbox]

I vote for Chrome as the biggest achievement. It's now my default browser due to speed and uncluttered UI.

The G1 hasn't really taken off here in the UK like the iPhone has, or it would get a close first vote!

[AussieWebmaster]

with under 1% not too impressive from a usage standpoint... it is a decent browser but no plugiins like Firefox makes mne stay where I am - so not big success/achievement

[beu]

Google Sites
Website Optimizer
Friend Connect
iPhone Search
Flash support
1 Trillion unique URLs
Fighter Jet
G1
SearchWiki

I'd go with the fighter jet. If the fighter jet wasn't an option, I'd say 1 Trillion URLs indexed.

[Farhan]

Originally Posted by AussieWebmaster

with under 1% not too impressive from a usage standpoint... it is a decent browser but no plugiins like Firefox makes mne stay where I am - so not big success/achievement

i feel the reason is that they arent targetting webmasters

[AussieWebmaster]

they lack the plugins of firefox and the pervasive history of IE

[jimbeetle]

i feel the reason is that they arent targetting webmasters

I think the folks in our industry are basically the only ones aware of it, as reflected in the general adoption numbers.

[Farhan]

Originally Posted by jimbeetle

I think the folks in our industry are basically the only ones aware of it, as reflected in the general adoption numbers.

.................

[AussieWebmaster]

he is saying SEOs started splaying with chrome but general public has no idea

[jimbeetle]

Thanks for the translation, AW (from Brooklyn to Aussie to English).

[AussieWebmaster]

lol... is what I am here for

[Farhan]

Originally Posted by AussieWebmaster

he is saying SEOs started splaying with chrome but general public has no idea

since thats the case, they should provide plugins for us