博客來這是一本目前絕無僅有，並且由權威媒體評論家所撰述的google企業傳記。
打開電腦，連上網際網路：AdWords、gmail、google maps、buzz…在這些為人熟知，且幾乎每位使用電腦的user幾乎都會使用甚至已經深陷其中的應用程式或服務，全都是由google所創建。在二十世紀末的全球網路浪潮中，google趁勢而起，不但站在浪頭，改寫規則，且不斷引領潮流。這是google所做「對」的事情。
Google做對很多事情，但它做錯了什麼？google為什麼要挑戰許多既有的產業？傳統媒體、廣告媒體，甚至出版商，圖書館？然後招致批評與衝突，比如侵犯使用者隱私權，或者做出進入中國市場的決定？
Google未來將走向何方？google的持續擴張對「我們」，對既定的世界還會有怎樣的影響？google能不能繼續站在浪頭？在這本書裡，我們將可看到截至目前為止，最中肯，也最權威的預測。
A revealing, forward-looking examination of the outsize influence Google has had on the changing media Landscape.
There are companies that create waves and those that ride or are drowned by them. As only he can, bestselling author Ken Auletta takes readers for a ride on the Google wave, telling the story of how it formed and crashed into traditional media businesses-from newspapers to books, to television, to movies, to telephones, to advertising, to Microsoft. With unprecedented access to Google’s founders and executives, as well as to those in media who are struggling to keep their heads above water, Auletta reveals how the industry is being disrupted and redefined.
Using Google as a stand-in for the digital revolution, Auletta takes readers inside Google’s closed-door meetings and paints portraits of Google’s notoriously private founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as those who work with-and against-them. In his narrative, Auletta provides the fullest account ever told of Google’s rise, shares the ”secret sauce” of Google’s success, and shows why the worlds of ”new” and ”old” media often communicate as if residents of different planets.
Google engineers start from an assumption that the old ways of doing things can be improved and made more efficient, an approach that has yielded remarkable results- Google will generate about ＄20 billion in advertising revenues this year, or more than the combined prime-time ad revenues of CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. And with its ownership of YouTube and its mobile phone and other initiatives, Google CEO Eric Schmidt tells Auletta his company is poised to become the world’s first ＄100 billion media company. Yet there are many obstacles that threaten Google’s future, and opposition from media companies and government regulators may be the least of these. Google faces internal threats, from its burgeoning size to losing focus to hubris. In coming years, Google’s faith in mathematical formulas and in slide rule logic will be tested, just as it has been on Wall Street.
Distilling the knowledge accrued from a career of covering the media, Auletta will offer insights into what we know, and don’t know, about what the future holds for the imperiled industry.
本書中譯版《GOOGLE大未來：工程師與企業家的戰爭，將把世界帶向何方？》由八旗文化出版。
作者簡介
Ken Auletta（歐來塔）
被哥倫比亞新聞評論喻為美國首席媒體評論家。在媒體，尤其是網際網路領域，他的觀察無人能比。他也是紐約客雜誌1992年以來通訊年鑑的專欄撰稿人。著有《媒體人泰德透納：不可能的帝國》、《內幕：新聞商業背後的故事》、《華爾街的貪婪與榮耀：雷曼兄弟的倒閉》及《世界大戰3.0版：微軟和他的敵人》等書。
