Feeling lucky?
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In this case, the gem isn't even a part of a Linux distribution. It'snot a piece of software, a book or an event. But it can help you findall three. You see, this hidden gem is a Web site, simply calledGoogle (or "google dotcom" if you must).
Portals 'R' Us Heck, we now have companies offering tools that let anyone make their ownportal. The Zope people have released a "portal toolkit", offering a vision of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Linux portals that do pretty much the same thing. But not Google. Compare the stark simplicity of Google's home page to theclutter of most current portals. As you can imagine, it takes very littletime to download, even when using a slow Internet link. And it's extremelyfriendly to any browser, including the popular And yet, much of what one would want from a portal, whether informationabout Linux or anything else on the Web, is available here. Furthermore,what started as a research project at Stanford University by two PhD students is now a successful commercial venture for them. "There are a number of thesis projects based on it," according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The project started out under the name "backrub," but was later changed toGoogle, a play on the term googol, a number representing ten to thepower of 100. It's an apt target for a site that -- even though I considerit a hidden gem -- gets a hundred million hits per month, according to Brin. The penguin's gone It's not totally fair to compare Google and ht://Dig. ht://Dig is an opensource search engine and Google uses proprietary software that Brin andhis partner Larry Page license to companies such as Netscape and Red Hat.Still, anyone making their own portal is welcome to point to Google's pageor even put the Google search capability right on their site. Google evengives buddingportal masters the code to do it. For the future, Brin said that Google is looking at other forms of revenue, such as putting a banner ad on the high-volume front page. "We just haven't gotten around to doing the infrastructure needed to do that," he said. Taking chances There's a button on the Google page you don't see on many other search engines, called "I'm feeling lucky." If you enter some criteria and click that button, Google takes you right to the Web page of the first search result. "We put in that button because Google does such a good job of presenting what people want, and giving them the most useful links right at the front," Brin said. "Very often the first search result is what people are looking for, and that button takes them right there." Sometimes it doesn't always work as expected. When I did a lucky searchon my last name, it took me to an interview about mental institutions atwww.schizophrenia.com... maybe it's trying to tell me something. Still, have a look at Google. While it's a great general purpose searchengine, it's especially good at searching for things Linux and Linux-ish.FAQs, READMEs, HOWTOs, or e-mail discussions, you'll find it all. It's possibly the best search engine on the 'net, and luck has nothing to do with that. What's your favorite Linux hidden gem? Let us know in the Evan Leibovitch has been working with Unix and Linux on PC systems for more than a dozen years. He's a partner in Starnix Inc., a Linux-centric integrator based in Brampton, Ontario. He has been heavily involved in user groups, both as a former director of UniForum Canada and as a current director of the Canadian Linux Users' Exchange. When not around computers, Evan enjoys cooking, writing, and annoying his children. Comments? Questions? Talk back to us!
The Linux world, even more than other corners of the informationsuper-gridlock, is becoming awash with portals.
The Linux connection isn't as obvious as it used to be. Before it turnedcommercial, Google's logo included the now-familiar Linux penguin. ButGoogle still runs on Linux and appears to do a better job of offeringsearch results than alternatives such as
While I hope that banner ads won't detract from the clean look of the Google home page layout, my favorite feature of Google won't be affected.
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