Vint Cerf Talks Google

Last week Google hired a net-god, Vinton Cerf, as its "chief Internet evangelist". Google's hiring of Cerf has set off a wide range of speculation among Internet watchers. Vint Cerf is not what many would consider a "normal" person and is no where near a "normal" employee. Cerf has been called the Father of the Internet and the most important person alive. Do you ever wonder how so much data can cross the global network every second? In 1972 and 1973, Cerf who is now 62, co-invented the Internet's primary data-transfer protocol known as TCP/IP. Cerf and fellow TCP/IP developer Robert Kahn figured out how to make the Internet work efficiently. TCP/IP is based on the simple concept of breaking large chunks of data into byte-sized packets, directing those packets from computer to computer through a scalable network, and reconstituting the individual packets to replicate the original document. Since he was hired, Cerf has given two interviews, one to CNet news earlier this week. Both articles offer comprehensive glimpses of what interests one of the world's most significant geeks and how he sees his role at Google. Cerf's tenure as Google's chief Internet evangelist officially begins October 3 rd but, being the Father of the Internet, nearly anything Cerf says about the 'net is by nature evangelical. Quotes used in this article are lifted directly from the CNet and TechWeb pieces. In some cases, quotes from each article are used in the same paragraph to paint what I believe is a clearer picture of how Cerf is thinking. Cerf admits his job description is currently undefined but likened his role to that of a bumblebee in transporting and cross pollinating ideas among Google engineers around the world. While he won't be working directly on writing code or managing programmers, he will be working to "... probe deeply into design philosophy, parameters and constraints", of Google's systems. "This is a place that's just full of creative energy, and I like places like that," Cerf said. "I want to have the opportunity to challenge people in the labs with problems that need solving." Google's