Is Google the most exciting company in tech at the moment?
Outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer churlishly bashed his company’s rivals at what was considered his last big speech as boss in September, and accused Google of being dedicated to ‘knowing more’, while Microsoft was committed to ‘doing more’.
Well, Ballmer, knowledge is power. And while Microsoft scrabbles around trying to catch up in the tablet space, Google is making waves in San Francisco Bay.
Its big top secret project, being built on barges moored at Treasure Island Marina so that the company doesn’t have to file its construction plans publicly, as it would on land, cannot possibly live up to the hype, and people are bound to be disappointed.
But equally the clandestine nature of the build certainly means Google doesn’t need any PR to get attention: everyone is making claims about what the structure might be.
The rumours gaining the most traction seem to be a wave-powered data centre (which could cut down on the extravagant cooling costs) and, somewhat less excitingly, a store in which to sell its Google Glass specs.
One thing’s for certain, and that is that when the details of the project are eventually laid bare, no-one will care very much anymore. But then, neither will Google: its researchers will already be onto the next challenge.
