What started as a simple yet efficient search engine has turned into an internet monolith. Who would have thought in under 10 years, a company stared by a couple uni students would have turned into the omnipotent internet empire it is today.

Think this might be a bit of an exaggeration? Think again.

Google currently gets more than 200 million search queries a day and indexes over three billion websites. If it were to print all these pages, the stack of paper would be over 240 kilometers high.

But success wasn’t always that easy. Not long after its inception in 1998 Google—much to the resistance of its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin—was forced to face the reality that without selling advertising it had no viable business model.

Through a revolutionary evolution over the last eight years, Google advertising now works by having advertisers bid auction-style on key search words.

Using this massive advertising revenue Google has been up to some interesting affairs. “At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I believe Google will revolutionise the software business,” said George Colony of Forrester Research—an independent technology and market research company.

How exactly will Google change the software business? It looks like Google will be giving away a plethora of new services—all for free.

To start, Google wants to build free wireless internet in San Francisco and it already offers a free email service called Gmail with storage starting at 2.5GB per account. To compare, Microsoft’s free Hotmail offers users only 250MB for free. Any additional storage must be purchased.

The list goes on. Google Earth gives free satellite images of North American locations and Google Maps provides, well, maps as well as road directions. Picasa allows users to find, edit and share photos while Froogle gives surfers localised online shopping deals.

Finally, Google Desktop Search lets users scan their computers the same way they search the web.

Find that list impressive? Check out some of Google’s latest initiatives:

• Google Base: The company is now testing a free online classified advertising system where users will be able to post all types of online and offline information including party and event planning services, recipes, used car listings and more.

• Google Analytics: Targeted at small and medium-sized businesses, this free service lets organisations see exactly how visitors interact with their websites and the success rates of their advertising campaigns. What’s most impressive is that Google Analytics is based on technology bought from a company called Urchin who used to charge clients US$495 per month.

• Click to Call: Google is also testing a free phone linking service that enables web surfers to talk to advertisers over regular phone lines. After clicking on a phone icon beside an advertiser, a box opens that prompts users to enter their phone number. Google then rings the number and when users pick up they hear Google calling the advertiser on their behalf. Like most other Google services, it’s free.

As Google evolves, some are concerned about its potentially disruptive technologies. Privacy advocates feel uneasy about Google Earth’s satellite imagery as its detailed enough for users to zero in on a particular residential building. American discount retailer Wal-Mart has voiced concerns about unfair competition from Froogle as people have instant access to information about where to purchase products at the lowest price.

But even though Google holds massive potential to cause a significant upheaval in the business world, many continue to sing its praises.

"In the past year, Google has proven to me that it is way more than just a great search company,” said Colony. “It can jump into the program game—and play under a completely new set of rules. Unless Larry and Sergey lose focus and the company’s charter devotes into esoteric pet projects, Google is going to change the world.”

I think it already has.