"Eric [Schmidt's] vision isn't really about 'the network is the computer', it's more about 'information will make you free'. Information should be a service on whatever device you exploit and be available and work wherever you are, which means the boundaries are arbitrary," explained Austin.
So, while in the Microsoft domain it is necessary to purchase a software licence and know where content is stored in order to move it from one device to another, in the Google space it is all about a "grand utility in the sky" which seamlessly provides information to those who want it, no matter what the device.
However, Google's philosophy isn't simply a flash in the pan and, in practice, has been some years in the making. Schmidt had already developed his vision of the future when he was chief technology officer at Sun and "that's what is playing out now in many ways at Google", said Austin.
Schmidt spearheaded Sun's Java-development efforts before leaving to join Novell as chief executive in 1997; both vendors were renowned at the time for their repeated but unsuccessful attempts to take on and present an alternative to the Microsoft powerhouse.
As a result, said Austin, this new scenario with Google is, to some extent, "Eric's revenge", although the focus is not necessarily to compete directly with Microsoft: even if that is the outcome and by-product of the company's vision.
In order to realise that vision, Google has built five highly redundant distributed machines, based on open source software, to act as "giant cloud engines" or "a compute engine to run all over the world". These servers process information and make it available to anyone who wants to use it via the medium of search, using whatever device they chose.
Open, scaleable, extensible platform
The key buzzwords for this scenario, said Schmidt, again in his Nasa speech, are "openness", "scalability" and "flexible architectures". "With internet models, you build on end-to-end connectivity. This means you make the platform such that it's the simplest one possible that people can build on top of, so that they build open systems not closed ones," Schmidt explained. "You don't try and solve all the problems now. You want to develop an extensible platform [to ensure that it is still valid in a future as yet unknown]."
This open, scaleable, extensible platform is based on open source software and standard protocols to enable people and things to collaborate and talk easily to each other and to ensure that "multiple vendors have a common substrate of communications". This, Schmidt said, in turn leads to "a much greater chance of creating something such as the internet, which was designed for one thing but becomes something else even more powerful and valuable".
"Google is a platform company in the same sense Microsoft uses the word 'platform'. This means that it's created core technology and services that others build on. The business is to create platforms to make money for themselves and to build up an alternative ecosystem [to Microsoft]," Card explained.
While providing developers with application programming interfaces (APIs) that they can build packages to, Google has added the appeal of enabling them to plug into its services and tap into its advertising revenue stream. "It was a really cool idea and Microsoft went 'Woah -- that's an instant way to make money'. They can use your mapping or search capability on their site, and you let them sell ads on it and take a cut. It was one of its major innovations," Card said.
However, in the same way Microsoft and Intel "made most of the money from PCs themselves", according to Card, Google, despite its apparent philanthropy, still generates...
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