the world, or part of it

By about now, everyone has probably heard a little, if not all of the story of Google in China. The Chinese had access to Google, but the quality is not exactly up to par. According to one of their recent reports, their google.com service in China is “…down around 10% of the time. Even when users can reach it, the website is slow, and sometimes produces results that when clicked on, stall out the user’s browser.” So this is much different that the Google most of us are used to in other countries. So the best solution was to make a google for them (enter google.cn).

It all seems well so far, but the real problem is right around the corner. In order for Google to get some local presence in China, they had to move sensitive content and information from their search results. So basically, they had to screen the content and conform to what the Chinese government said. It has sparked a wave of controvesy among those who believe that the internet should never be screened. Google has stated that this was a tough step to take, but they stand behind it. They tried to stand by their motto, but in a situation like this, compromised. The internet, which has been the uncensored and almost always unchecked medium, is now beeing screened.

Now let’s not forget about the incredible good that can come from China getting access to the most popular search engine out there. Even though there is controversial screening, the Chinese are now getting very competent service compared to the google.com service that was virtually unusable. China’s population is, of course, one-fifth of the world’s. Google China has not yet offered all of the bells and whistles (such as Blogger or G-Mail) that they have in other countries, but they plan to move into the market when the time is right.

So will the move to China be a big success or a long, slow work in progress? On the 15th of February, Google did release what is a guideline/game plan with their Chinese services and how they’ll work with the government. I guess we can only wish them the best of luck.