Cerf backs broader Google focus

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist, recently spoke with Juan Carlos Perez of IDG News Service, a Network World affiliate, about a variety of topics related to the Mountain View, Calif., search giant. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation.

As Google broadens its menu of services beyond search to areas such as blogging, Web mail, Wi-Fi access, instant messaging and social networking, does it run the risk of losing its focus?

Absolutely not. What's happening here is the aggregation of a remarkable collection of people, all of whom have a very visceral and strong appreciation for what is possible to do with software and information. They are exploring a variety of ways in which to make these computer-driven tools more useful and cross-functional. The focus isn't simply on search. It is on making information discoverable and useful, so all of these things you see happening at Google are side effects of expanding on the original paradigm, which was making search an effective tool.

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Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist, recently spoke with Juan Carlos Perez of IDG News Service, a Network World affiliate, about a variety of topics related to the Mountain View, Calif., search giant. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation.

As Google broadens its menu of services beyond search to areas such as blogging, Web mail, Wi-Fi access, instant messaging and social networking, does it run the risk of losing its focus?

Absolutely not. What's happening here is the aggregation of a remarkable collection of people, all of whom have a very visceral and strong appreciation for what is possible to do with software and information. They are exploring a variety of ways in which to make these computer-driven tools more useful and cross-functional. The focus isn't simply on search. It is on making information discoverable and useful, so all of these things you see happening at Google are side effects of expanding on the original paradigm, which was making search an effective tool.

Is it a good strategy for Google to be in the enterprise-search market with products such as the Search Appliance and the Google Mini?

Yes, I'm very excited about the packaging up of Google's capabilities in a way that can be delivered to an enterprise. The opportunity there is to deliver this capability to a fairly broad range of enterprises from very small to very large. The ability to help people organize information, especially unstructured information, is a very powerful tool.

What do you make of the mash-ups phenomenon, those combination Web sites/Web applications?

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I can't tell you how excited I am about it. We know we don't have a corner on creativity. There are creative people all around the world, hundreds of millions of them, and they are going to think of things to do with our basic platform that we didn't. So the mash-up stuff is a wonderful way of allowing people to find new ways of applying the basic infrastructures we're propagating. This will turn out to be a major source of ideas for applying Google-based technology to a variety of applications.

Most of Google's revenue comes from paid search ads. Should the company try to diversify its revenue sources?

It is always a good idea to understand how dependent you are on your revenue streams and whether there could be more diversification. However, we have a very long way to go before we have exhausted that segment of [the overall advertising market] that we have reasonable access to. I'm not suggesting complacency at all, but I'm suggesting we have some ways to grow in our current business model on a global scale before diversification becomes an issue.

Since early last year, Google has been involved in a steady stream of controversies, the latest one being publishers' lawsuits over the Google Book Search program. How well do you see Google handling these controversies?

Part of my job is to try to make that better. On the Google [Book Search controversy], I don't think we explained as carefully as we should have how this was going to work and how we would protect the interest of the publishers. And the publishers have leaped to a conclusion that is not supported by what we're trying to do. Part of my job is to articulate that more carefully, and I hope we can overcome the concerns that have been expressed.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.