Google and OOCL
Google is a well-known company, critical to the infrastructure of the Internet. Will it ever catch OOCL, a less well-known company critical to the international trade?
| Google | OOCL |
| Employees | 1,900 | 4,000 |
| Year founded | 1998 | 1947 |
| 2003 revenue | $1.4 billion | $3.2 billion |
| Stock symbol/exchange | GOOG/NASDAQ | OOIL/Hong Kong |
| International presence | 63 domains | 50 countries |
| Typical employee | Software engineer | Sailor |
| Capacity | 8 billion web pages | 350,000 TEU containers |
| Business model | Advertising | Fee-for-service |
| Network type | Internet | Intermodal transport |
| Naming scheme | Irrational numbers for buildings | Cities, countries for large ships |
| Customer extranet | AdWords | CargoSmart |
| Company-provided meals | Yes | Yes |
| Web address | http://www.google.com | http://www.oocl.com |
| Website photos | Lava lamps, employees playing hockey | Ships, trains, docks |
| Has Flash intro | No | Yes |
| Software development locations | Mountain View, Bangalore, Zurich | San Jose, Shanghai, Manila, Hong Kong |
| Corporate philosophy |
Focus on the user and all else will follow.
It's best to do one thing really, really well.
Fast is better than slow.
Democracy on the web works.
|
People, People, People
Customer Focus
Excellence Through Quality
Community Responsibility
|
I posted the following to the CHI-Consultants list, an e-mail list of user interface consultants that Jef Raskin frequently posted to.
Amid all the news stories documenting Jef Raskin's work from more than 20 years ago, it would be a shame we on the CHI-Consultants list failed to recognize his recent and frequent contributions to our community.
His posts to seemingly simple questions were usually provocative. His stature and busy schedule did not keep him from answering questions from anybody who asked them. The field of user interface design has right answers and wrong answers, Jef believed, and we shouldn't stop looking for the right answers just because of convention, commercial pressures, or because research and experimentation is time-consuming and intellectually challenging. Not even his own authority was a sufficient excuse to stop looking for the best way: he even challenged the conventions he helped to create and popularize.
Jef's example showed there is no limit to the breadth of knowledge and interests that can be brought to bear on making computers easier for people to use. He offered the world insights into psychology, music, computer science, religion, and many things I'm only finding out about today. His untimely passing shows that 61 years was not enough time to solve all the problems the field has to offer. The high standard he set for our profession and his sudden absence from it poses a challenge, one made a little easier by the memory of his enthusiasm and his advocacy for human beings trying to tame technology.