Google has come a long way since its birth in September 7th, 1998 — it’s now one of the world’s biggest companies, worth $166 billion. Yesterday was the 10th year of Google’s success; it seems almost impossible to think of how information was found before 10 years ago.

Gandhi changed the world. The steam engine changed the world. Heart transplants changed the world. The Internet changed the world. Google simply made a small (albeit important) contribution toward making Internet a better experience for all of us. [GigaOM]

One would argue that Google is nothing special, and that there are plenty of other search engines out there. The others don’t work; it’s just like the iPod vs. other MP3 players.

If Google were even to have downtime for day, the world would be at panic. Whether it’s people at home or at work — Google is relied upon as a resource for finding everything on the Internet. I even use it as a calculator, measurements converter and it’s other built-in functionalities — not to mention their Gmail and Calendar services.