Since its start in 1998, Google has become one of the most popular search engines. It has grown from a research project in the dormitory room of two college students to a business that now employs approximately 20,000 people. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, met in 1995 when they were in their twenties and graduate students in computer science at Stanford University in California. They realized that Internet search was a very important field and began working together to make searching easier. Both Page and Brin left their studies at Stanford to work on their project. Interestingly, they have never returned to finish their degrees.​

​Brin was born in Russia, but he has lived in the U.S. since he was five years old. His father was a mathematician in Russia. Page, whose parents were computer experts, has been interested in computers since he was six years old.

When Google started in 1998, it did 10,000 searches a day. Today it does 235 million searches a day in 40 languages. It indexes2 1 trillion Web pages.

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How is Google different from other search engines? Have you ever noticed how many ads and banners there are on other search engines? News, sports scores, stock prices, links for shopping, mortgage rates, and more fill other search engines. Brin and Page wanted a clean home page. They believed that people come to the Internet to search for specific information, not to be hit with a lot of unwanted data. The success of Google over its rivals has proved that this is true.

​Over the years, Google has added new features to its Web site: Google Images, where you can type in a word and get thousands of pictures; Google News, which takes you to today’s news; Google Maps; and more. But one thing hasn’t changed: the clean opening page that Google offers its users. In 2009, Forbes.com listed Page and Brin as having net worths of $12 billion each, at 36 and 35 years old.

​USES OF PRESENT PERFECT

​AN ACTION IN THE PAST WITH A RESULT NOW

• ​I've lost my passport.

• ​Where's Linda? She's gone to bed

• We've bought a new car.​

• ​It's Rachel's birthday and I haven't bought her a present.

• ​

​An action or situation that started in the past and continues in the present

• ​Larry Page has been interested in computers for many years.

• ​My sister has been a programmer for three years.

• ​Brin’s family has been in the U.S. since 1979.

• ​I have had my computer since March.

• ​Personal computers have been popular since the 1980s.

​QUESTIONS

• ‘How much has he won?’ ‘£5,000!’

• I can't find my keys. Where have they gone?

• ‘Why haven't you finished this work?’ ‘I've been busy.’

• What have you made for dinner?​