Happy birthday Google… and remote computing

Google turns five today, or at least that’s what I think their birthday-caked logo suggests.

For those who ever had any doubts, Google.com proves the vast vitality and potent potential of web computing. Why use some silly Encyclopedia-on-a-CD when you can tap into the Google resources: 3.1 billion online documents sorted by 10,000 servers and 200 million linking minds?

Five years ago, Sun and Microsoft spent a lot of time debating the primacy of the network versus the PC. Quietly, without anyone making a big deal of it, it has become clear that the network is winning.

Yep, I’m one of those folks who believe that soon ALL interesting computing will be done by “the Internet” and not by local computers. I live this belief. My “to do” list sits on a server in Budapest. Junk e-mail aimed at my head is deflected by the spam filters at Messagefire’s server. My company sits on servers in Austin and caters to clients sitting in Mantes, Manhattan, Paris, Haddington, Vienna, Eu, Oban, Cleveland, Geneva, London, LA, Lisbon… and, if need be, the moon. My phone calls are answered by a computer in … I don’t even know where.

The Internet gives businesses incredible economies of scale AND unprecedented opportunities to create new connections among ideas, people, goods and services. The best is yet to come… and come and come.