Google CEO resisted Chrome initially

Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, resisted the idea of building what became the Chrome browser and (soon) operating system, before succumbing to the enthusiasm of Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.  

Source: Wall Street Journal Blog

By Julia Angwin

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Thursday evening that, for six years, he resisted the idea of building what became the Chrome browser and (soon) operating system, before succumbing to the enthusiasm of Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

In a wide-ranging on-the-record press conference, Messrs. Schmidt and Page described the origins of the combination browser/operating system.

“At the time, Google was a small company,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Having come through the bruising browser wars, I didn’t want to do that again.”

Eventually, however, Messrs. Brin and Page hired some Firefox developers who built a demonstration of Chrome. “It was so good that it essentially forced me to change my mind,” Mr. Schmidt said.

“I think we just wore you down,” Mr. Page joked.

“I just gave up,” Mr. Schmidt said. “But there is no question I am hugely supportive of Chrome and Chrome OS. They are game-changers. They change the way you think about your computer.”

Mr. Page described the Chrome operating system as a kind of anti-operating system — one that is basically indistinguishable from a browser. Netbooks loaded with Chrome will boot up almost instantaneously and will store data on the Internet instead of a hard drive.

“I wanted the operating system to kind of be out of the way,” Mr. Page said.

“If you live your life in the browser maybe you don’t want all the stuff that came from Eric’s generation,” Mr. Page added, putting his hand on Mr. Schmidt’s shoulder.

Mr. Schmidt leaned back in his chair and groaned at being characterized as an old guy. “Why am I always in this position?”

Messrs. Schmidt and Page were also careful not to position Chrome as a competitor to Microsoft Windows. They argued that Chrome will expand the market for netbooks, rather than eating into Windows’ share of the netbook market.

“Microsoft is welcome to put Internet Explorer on our operating system,” Mr. Schmidt said, although he conceded that “it’s highly unlikely they would do it. They would have to port it and the port is not trivial…the ball is in their court.”

He added that because Chrome is open source, Google won’t be able to block Microsoft.. “All of it is open,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Even if we had an evil moment, we would be unsuccessful.”

Although Chrome will be free, Mr. Schmidt said it will still boost Google’s business. “We benefit when people spend more of their life online,” he said. “So for us it’s a very straightforward strategic initiative that ultimately results in more revenue.”

During the more than one-hour press conference, Messrs. Schmidt and Page also touched on some other topics:

• Apple: Mr. Schmidt said that he will talk to Apple about whether he should recuse himself from discussions of Apple’s operating system. “I recused myself from iPhone because it was a direct competitor,” he said. “There is no change at the moment.”
• Twitter: “We’ve talked about everything with Twitter,” Mr. Schmidt said. “We like Twitter a lot. We’re big fans of Twitter.” Mr. Page added that his previous comments about improving Google’s real-time search had been blown out of context. “I made some comments we could do a lot of things better. We could do a lot of things better.” He added that Google is seeking more data sources for real-time search but is not aiming to create a copycat of Twitter. “We have a rule of not doing what everybody else does,” Mr. Schmidt said.
• Twitter and Facebook: “We were worried that these guys might be competitors,” Mr. Schmidt said, “but it looks like people who use Twitter and Facebook start using Google more.”
• The economy: Mr. Schmidt said the mood at the conference was “sober, realistic.” He dubbed the current state of the economy “the new normal.” “The reality of the new normal is sinking in,” he said. “You run your inventories really tight, credit is not widely available, and you can’t waste money.”
• Android: Mr. Schmidt said that there are a lot of commonalities between Chrome and Google’s mobile operating system, Android. “Although it appears they are two separate projects, there’s a great deal of commonality,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Eventually they may merge even closer.”
• Online advertising: Display advertising “is something we’re working really hard on,” Mr. Page said. Mr. Schmidt said display advertising “is likely to be the next billion-dollar business at Google.”
• YouTube and Hulu: Mr. Schmidt said YouTube would like to have more of the kind of premium content deals that have fueled Hulu’s success. But he added that YouTube didn’t need to get the same shows as Hulu. “We can make money even if we don’t have the top TV shows,” he said. He declined to predict when YouTube would become profitable.
• Book Search: Mr. Schmidt said the Google books settlement is not being resubmitted because of antitrust concerns. “It’s in front of a judge,” he said. “I’m not sure we can renegotiate.” He added that “inevitably the thoughtful criticisms fall short because they don’t propose an alternative.”
• AOL: Mr. Schmidt said the discussions regarding Google’s buyback of its stake in AOL have been “friendly” and “straightforward.” “I don’t think it’s going to be an issue,” he said.
• MySpace: Mr. Schmidt declined to comment on whether Google would renew its $900 million MySpace deal on the same terms when it expires next year. He said “we haven’t broken the code yet” for monetizing social network search.
• TV Everywhere: Mr. Page was mildly optimistic about Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes’ TV Everywhere initiative. “Any way to solve rights issues are a good thing,” Mr. Page said.
• Bottled water: Mr. Page said that Google has eliminated bottled water from its campus. “We did a long analysis and discovered that reducing bottled water didn’t cause people to drink less water. So we got rid of water,” Mr. Page said. Mr. Schmidt disputed that, saying he’s sure he has seen some bottled water around the Googleplex.