Google in 2015 -- activity report & recap
OK, I like Google. They don't hide what they do and if they use your info they will be clear about it and if they say they don't use your kids info (that they could get from school activity) they will even let watchdog groups in to check on that and give them coffee and donuts while they do it.
EU takes them to task for stuff, Google proves they didn't do it and then does everything the EU suggests they do to make sure they don't squelch the little European search engines.
Let's give Google some credit for what they quietly and seamlessly did in 2015, without aggravating anybody or pissing off anybody (other than their various competitors of course).
Google Fi My daughter and son-in-law were pilot people for this and simply say that it rolled out according to the schedule and always worked as good as Verizon ever did, and it got better each month until their service is "most excellent" everywhere in the world that they have actually gone. And they take trips to Iceland and Mali and places like that, so if they say "everywhere they have gone" it has some meaning.
Plus, Google just told them they could Fi their Android tablets for free, as part of their general service, and sent them the sim cards. Since they live in a Google wired town, Google wifi for them is free and Google cable is along every street and them Google cable nodes are in every store they visit now in town so their tablets can get a wifi signal just like their phones do.
Project Loonhttp://www.businessinsider.com/google-project-loon-will-be-a-10-billion-busin...http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/2/8129543/google-x-internet-balloon-project-lo... Red indicates Loon populated wind currentsSo, reading the two reports gives you the position Loon reached this year, which is POST Beta testing, ready to distribute fully. Google always wanted their own backbone, one not monitored by the NSA, and it looks as if they might actually be building it.
Google GIGABYTE ground fiber system and the Loon system are actually the same system, and it is actually profitable even now as they roll it out.
Self-Driving CarsTechnology is complete and dozens of Beta units lined up for deployment to nearby college campuses. Not much fuss about it, just motion going forward. If it is cheap enough, kids on large campuses will be excellent customers as it beats walking long distances with a heavy back pack.
Android and ChromeOSBoth got rolled forward by several major revisions and nobody got dumped on or messed up or pissed off. Android COMPLETED the 64 bit changeover (congrats to ARM/Google/LENARO) with no noticeable evil laying about anywhere during the entire process.
And let's put MS and Android into perspective, volume-wise. Android activates 1.5 million phones a day and is still growing organically. That means it will take Android only 100 days to INCREASE its size to GROW PAST the total number that MS has struggled for a year to even get to. Toss in the 30,000 Chromebook activations per day on top of that for a sprinkle of seasoning, and you get a overwhelming problem for MS for next year.
Google will outgrow past MS repeatedly from the very get go.Android has always activated more brand new items in any given month than free Win 10 has managed to move itself over into by hook or crook (or even by lying and coercion). Android has 10 billion installed devices / 148 million = 67.56 times more Android than Win 10 devices, and that ratio is INCREASING no matter what MS does, with Android relapping MS again every 100 days by simple organic growth.
And next year, Android will become a full desktop operating system and actually begin to compete head to head in MS's home turf, something they assiduously avoided doing up until this point in time. Go Google, go !!!
..... let the feature wars begin !!!!!