Whitey - 6:19 am on May 4, 2006 (gmt 0)

Don't read too literally into everything the boss says. Remember he's playing big time - Investors , Customers and Profits , Strategic Plays.

The knives are out - Bill G's talking of a fighting fund of billions to compete and prepared to wear a share price drop of 10% to say it. So folks - this is serious.

This is a big time battle in play and guys, yes you and me - we just live on the ground watching the troops run left and right, fixing our fences, playing with collatoral damage.

I kinda wonder if Matt and the team are doing a high wire act, balancing relations with webmasters and customers whilst getting shot daily by the corporate executive team for not fixing the issues fast enough. Welcome to "big time" IT.

Whatever Google's greater objective, they've gotta be confident that they'll pull the product way in front of their competitors - so stick with the ride - if you can hold on - perhaps months!

[edited by: Whitey at 6:27 am (utc) on May 4, 2006]