Google was founded in 1998 by Graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University (Google, n.d.). During this time, the two wanted a concept for search engine but Google was not the name, it was named Backrub (Battelle, 2005). Backrub was a play on the mathematical expression for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros (Battelle, 2005). The two were on a mission to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (Battelle, 2005). BackRub, comprised an estimated 10 million documents, with an untold number of links between them (Batelle, 2005). A man named Milton Sirotta was responsible for coming up with the term Google (Bruccain, n.d.). The name was derived from googol. On September 14, 1997, the BackRub was renamed to Google.com and was officially registered as a domain name (Bruccain, n.d.).
Over the next few years, Google caught the attention of Silicon Valley investors. In August 1998, the co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote a check of $100,000.00 to Larry and Sergey, and Google Inc. was officially born (Google, n.d.). The investment changed things for Google, not just the name but the surroundings. The office was no longer dorms but a garage in suburban Menlo Park, computer with new desktop computers, ping pong tables, and bright blue carpets (Google, n.d.).
Google has always been unconventional. Google’s initial server was made of Lego (Google, n.d.). A stick figure in the logo announcing to the site visitors that the entire staff was playing hooky at the Burning Man Festival (Google, n.d.). Google grew rapidly. Eventually, Google outgrew the garage and moved to its current headquarters (The Googleplex) in Mountain View, California (Google, n.d.). Today, over 60,000 employees in 50 different countries, Google markets hundreds of products used by billions of people across the globe, from YouTube and Android to Smartbox and GoogleSearch (Google, n.d.).
As of the data on Google for 2017, Google’s revenue is 110.855 billion which is a 22 percent over 90.272 billion in 2016 (Jurevicius, 2018). The profits of the company are 12.662 billion which is 35 percent over 19.478 in 2016 (Jurevicius, 2018). The company has over 80,110 employees and its main competitors are Amazons.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., and IBM (Jurevicius, 2018). Below are Google’s strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
Microsoft
In 1975, two boyhood friends from Seattle, Washington, Bill Gates and Paul G. Allen converted a basic computer programming language for a use on a personal computer (PC), the Altair (Hall and Zachary, 2018). Shortly afterward, Gates and Allen founded Microsoft, deriving the name from the words microcomputer and software (Hale and Zachary, 2018). In 1980 the Internal Business Machines Corporation (IBM) asked Microsoft to produce the essential software, or an operating system for its first PC, the IBM PC (Hale and Zachary, 2018). Microsoft purchased an operating system from another company, modified it, and renamed it MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). MS-DOS grew at an alarming rate generating vast revenue for Microsoft. By the early 1990s, Microsoft had sold more than 100 million copies of the program and defeated rival operating systems (Hale and Zachary, 2018).
Microsoft continued to dominate their position in the operating systems by adding Windows. Microsoft had reached eureka with this operating system. Window was user-friendly. Windows provided graphical displays and organization information. Microsoft was easily accessed. Windows utilized icons and tools that simplify complex operations performed computers. Although Apple’s Macintosh, another operating system is known and used widely, it’s estimated that 90 percent of personal computers use Windows.
Microsoft became the leader in software, such as word-processing and spreadsheet program. During this time, their rival was WordPerfect. WordPerfect is a word processing application owned by Corel (Corel, 2018). Corel is a Canadian software company headquartered in Austin, Texas, specializing in graphics processing. excellent software program and at that time was user-friendly.
Microsoft has not been as successful in its endeavors. In 1999, after a trial that lasted 30 months, a judge found that Microsoft was in violation of the Sherman Act and ordered the breakup of the company. The Sherman Act is the first legislation enacted by Congress to curb concentration of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). In 2001, the case was appealed and overturned but the court ordered a break-up of the company and found Microsoft guilty of illegally trying to maintain a monopoly.
As of the end of 2017, Microsoft’s revenues were 899.50 million dollars with a net income of $21204 million. The gross margin was 55689 million dollars with 124,000 employees. Below are Microsoft’s strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT):
Conclusion
By differentiate, Microsoft sold $14.3 billion worth of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint and different business applications during the most recent nine months, making a benefit of $9.3 billion. It made a further $16 billion in income in 2008 through offers of its working frameworks, which extend from XP establishments on net books, to Vista, to Windows Mobile to its server programming.
Google currently designs its own scope of working frameworks, beginning with Android, an open-source OS for little gadgets like advanced mobile phones, and Chrome OS, a program engaged, open-source OS that will keep running on note pads and work areas.
