GOOGLE
by Siddhartha Mishra
EVEN though Robert E . Kahn and Vint Cerf ’ s efforts had led to something we now know as the internet , it took a Tim Berners-Lee to give us the World Wide Web — a term incorrectly used synonymously with the former . However , users still needed to have access to indexed web pages or websites sorted according to specific queries . The first search engine , Archie , was around , and first-generation web users will remember the likes of Alta- Vista , Lycos , Yahoo and Dogpile more vividly . But the collective imagination was blown when Sergey Brin and Larry Page came up with Google .
Since the end of 1998 , Google has been at the forefront of innovation and popularity in the universe of the general web search engine . The likes of Google are horizontal search engines , trawling and indexing entries according to relevance to provide results . However , the web user ’ s need for specifics also led to the rise of vertical search engines such as Amazon and our desi Flipkart in e-commerce — a place where a user can now find every product imaginable .
When it comes to the general horizontal web search , Google just needs a crown to call itself king . According to StatCounter , Google had 93.82 per cent marketshare in India in December 2016 , while Bing from Microsoft had a 4.7 per cent stake . Statista says Google cornered 94.55 per cent of the pie in October 2017 .
Everyone loves a gentle giant who doesn ’ t go trampling all over without reason . The initial philosophy behind Google was that it is for everybody — a vast ocean of information where anyone from anywhere in the world can dip in for the pearls he or she is searching for . But what if the giant starts to flex its muscle ? That was precisely why Google got a rap on the knuckles in India on February 8 , in a case of abusing its dominance . Last Thursday , the Competition Commission of India ( CCI ) fined Google Rs 135.86 crore for having “ abused its dominant position in online general web search and web search advertising services in India ”. The CCI said the penalty , calculated at five per cent of the average total revenue generated in the period 2013-15 , is to act as a deterrent and “ reflect ( the ) seriousness of ( the ) infringement ”.
No Laws Yet In Search of Profits
The Competition Commission has clamped down on Google ’ s paid-for search results
In a cover-story in mid- January , Outlook had said an order was expected in the case from 2012 that involved Matrimony . com Limited ( formerly Bharat Matrimony ) and Consumer Unity & Trust Society ( CUTS ) as the opposing parties . Last year , the European Union also penalised Google $ 2.8 billion for
ONLINE GIANT Google Inc .’ s London office
GETTY IMAGES
breaching anti- trust rules when it came to shopping comparisons .
In a majority ruling of 4-2 , the antitrust watchdog found Google wanting on three counts in its 190-page order . Firstly , there was the issue of ranking universal search results ( SERP : Search Engine Results Page on Google ) prior to
26 February 2018 OUTLOOK 55