Journal Entry #1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7441132.stmTechnology is always changing, trying to be bigger and better. Of course the dominant search engine Google is no exception. First they introduced their own version of e-mail, called Gmail in 2004. Now four years later they are trying to improve their own system in a different way. Instead of allowing their own employees to find improvements and glitches in the system, they have opened the testing process to tens of millions of public Gmail users. The everyday Gmail user can give suggestions on what to change or keep. This is the first time the company has opened up testing to outsiders on such a large scale.
Personally, I think it is about time they opened up feedback to the general public since they are the ones actually using the product. Also, I believe it would be better for the average person to test the software instead of highly qualified engineers from Google. Technology is spreading faster than ever and making an application such as Gmail easier to use is very important. I feel the real reason behind this outreach, to make Gmail better, is to compete against Yahoo. Even though Yahoo has recently formed a deal between Google (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7452060.stm) concerning search advertising, they are still major competitors. Customers would be more than willing to use Google if it was a search engine and an e-mail hub, similar to Yahoo. As a Yahoo user myself, I did not know that Gmail existed until I read this article.
Furthermore, in the BBC article the journalists were allowed to go behind the scenes of what actually happens inside the 'Googleplex' building. While reading the last half of this article I realized that these engineers are really just people trying new and different ideas to sell a better product. The product is developed based on new innovations, and Google is just using the public to help.
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