Schmidt Defends DoubleClick Buy, Net Neutrality

At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke with Federated Media's John Battelle to discuss Google's purchase of DoubleClick, Network Neutrality, and the company's seemingly aggressive movement into Microsoft territory with the release of a new PowerPoint-like web application.

Google believes the combination of their technology with DoubleClick's targeting, advertising and publishing support tools will provide better results for the end user.

"Advertising again is both an art and a science," he said. "We can provide the science to the artists."

Schmidt remains confident of Google's acquisition despite the antitrust concerns swirling out of Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft is based. As Murdok's David Utter balked at a whispered $2 billion price tag. Soon after, the Beast of Redmond seems inordinately upset about a company it didn't deem valuable enough to worry about.

The DoubleClick acquisition has raised other concerns as well, regarding its ownership of presentation application that will be part of Google Docs and Spreadsheets. The announcement has been dubbed a bold move onto Microsoft's PowerPoint turf. Schmidt denies it as a direct threat to Microsoft and implies that it is simply an online solution to completing a set of tasks.

"I think that the reason is that it does not have all the functionality, nor was it intended to have all the functionality of products like Microsoft Office. This is really a different way of managing information."

Schmidt goes on to explain to Battelle that Google Documents and Spreadsheets is different from Microsoft's product in that it is a free, innovative way to help people better create, use, and share information on the Web.

"This is a testament of strength of Web 2.0," he said.

Schmidt also touched on the issue of

Although the Internet has changed over time, it is still in its infancy, Schmidt indicated, with more significant changes to come, especially in the mobile realm.