Just make the stuff works first, then re-calculate some factors that you're looking for right now as your service's running, just to be sure you won't waste your investment too much :wink:

I agree, if you have to ask, then you should start by answering those questions by doing research yourself instead of asking others on a message board. :)

I can tell you that Google has a few thousand servers running their search engine. ;) I can't remember the exact number.

As for Instant Messaging, there are a few open source ones out there like Jabba which are easy to install and customize - but plenty of people have done that already.

The competition in search engines are stiff - even big players have tried it and gone.

The same goes for webmail - to distinguish themselves people are offering large amounts of hard drive space.

If you want to just "play around", you can start your own search engine, webmail and IM within 2 hours. :) But if you want to be serious, we are talking 90% advertising and promotion - marketing is key, and you need money to advertise. Start small first - never over-invest in hardware you don't need - many companies have gone bankrupt by spending half a million bucks on hardware to realize they are not getting the visitors that require it. So start small, always have hardware that is just enough, and advertise heaps. :)

finally, someone who can actually, help me


Well i am quie serious about this and understand that money and dedication would have to be put in. My friend and I are looking for a good team to put together if by any chance anyone is interested?

lets just say your trying to climb a hill that is completely vertical with no tools or means of climbing what so ever;)

i have a means of climbing, i want to make a succesful site that will soon be home to millions

as for tools, i am going to put together a good team and give it 100%, if it doesnt work.....well atleast i can say i tried eh?

Gio - let me make it clear that I'm not trying to crush your idea here. I'm trying to be constructive about this and give you some advice. As has been said by several people here it's a monster task. It's like me coming into computing class tomorrow, gathering a few of my friends and saying, ok let's program an operating system. These sites like google and such started out when there was a niche, there was a need for search engines. The internet was a relatively new place and they didn't have to deal with incredibly tough competition. Right now, you're coming into a market which is near impossible to enter. Google has thousands of employees world-wide and I'd estimate that they have well over a thousand developers. This kind of project cannot be achieved by a few people as your implying by asking here. It's the kind of project that will take a hundred developers several years. Also these companies operate in offices and efficient working environments. The internet (typically) is not a great environment for developement of large software.

Hopefully you'll take this into consideration when thinking this through, and best of luck with your plan :)

o ok now i completely understand and appreciate your constuctive criticism, im just trying to do something that will have a good (positive) impact on the net, and thats all i can think of right now!!!