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Google's finesse on April Fools' Day: Outsmarting by not deceiving!
April Fools' Day (April 1st) is a rare occasion when people can freely tell lies to tease each other without worry. Many tech giants take advantage of this day to play jokes on their customers in their own ways.
The prank of the century that left the tech community scratching their heads
When it comes to pranks, no business surpasses Google. The conglomerate is famous for its mischievous pranks that leave customers bewildered. In 2004, Google continued the April Fools' tradition by releasing two seemingly absurd pieces of information, making it impossible for anyone to distinguish between truth and fiction.
Firstly, Google posted job openings for engineers at a research center soon to be opened on... the Moon. Thousands fell for it, eagerly submitting applications, only to be disappointed when they discovered it was just another April Fools' prank by the company.
However, on that same day, Google also announced another groundbreaking news: they would introduce an entirely new email service with a storage capacity of up to 1,000 MB - equivalent to over 500,000 emails.
At that time, Hotmail only provided users with 2 MB of storage, while Yahoo Mail slightly surpassed with 4 MB. With a memory capacity 250-500 times that of its competitors, Google's new service would allow users to avoid the hassle of deleting emails after each read.
Immediately, the announcement caught the attention of global media and users alike. Most expressed skepticism, finding it hard to believe that Google would create a service so 'convenient.' The tech community also couldn't 'sniff out' any related information about this project beforehand.
Not to mention, Google's press release was written in a friendly and charming tone. This further affirmed the online community's belief that another prank was in the making.
The inspiration for creating Gmail came from a Google user. She complained about the poor quality of existing email services, mentioning spending hours sorting and searching for emails, or deleting frantically due to insufficient storage.
So, she asked us: 'Can't you guys do something about it?'
The idea of a better email service captured the attention of a Google engineer - who initially thought it was just a 'fun' project. After digesting millions of M&M candies, Gmail came to life,' co-founder Larry Page of Google wrote.
It can be said that in the eyes of the public, Google creating something other than a search tool was quite astonishing.
The prank has endured for almost two decades
According to Georges Harik - Director of Google's startup division at that time, the media took a while to realize that Gmail was a real project.
'Journalists called and asked us: 'Are you guys joking or is this for real?'', he recalled. 'It was quite funny at that time.'
Before that, the CN website expressed doubts about the authenticity of the information: 'Google has played pranks on the tech community on April Fools' Day before.' The financial website The Motley Fool also couldn't believe their eyes: 'Like an April Fools' joke from Google. Really!'
Many see this as a blatant PR tactic, but Sergey Brin - co-founder of Google - thinks differently.
In the book 'In the Plex,' journalist Steven Levy recounted: 'Many years later, Brin still enthusiastically recalls the 'reverse' prank - a prank without lying.' Google's former manager also confirmed: 'At that time, Google planned to organize a crazy April Fools' prank, a prank that could still last until the next day.'
The 'Gmail' prank may not be the funniest thing Google has ever done on April Fools' Day, but it's certainly the most significant.
This turning point turned a young startup into one of the largest Internet companies in the world just a few years later. They didn't stop at email, but expanded into many related fields such as cloud storage, web applications, and more.
18 years later, many former formidable competitors of Google are also trying to mimic Gmail. They copy it so meticulously that people forget how terrible email was before this prank of the century: cramped, slow, and full of spam. You couldn't even organize messages by content. Limited memory forced you to spend hours deleting old emails or buying additional storage from the provider.
Gmail's launch, using Ajax instead of simple and outdated HTML, demonstrated to everyone how smoothly web applications can run. It showed us the power of cloud storage.
Currently, Gmail stands as the world's most popular email platform, boasting over 1.9 billion users. It's estimated that this email service can rake in a staggering revenue of up to $120 million per day through advertisements.
Indeed, no one expected that Google's April Fools' prank that year would extend to a whopping 18 years and wield such a profound influence on human life!
