Google views computing as being divided into three worlds:
1. The Smart Internet
The Smart Internet is the Google world -- a world in which algorithms and artificial intelligence enhance and augment human life while people are connected online.
Search is the original example of online intelligence for Google. Instead of finding things in Yahoo's directory -- basically the library model of giving you everything in a card catalog -- Google came out with a search engine that used algorithms to rank search results in a way that helps you find what you're looking for.
The ultimate expression of the Smart Internet is Google Now, the intelligent personal assistant that learns your preferences and gives you answers to questions even before you ask them.
2. The Dumb Internet
The Dumb Internet is one alternative to the Smart Internet. The Dumb Internet is the part of the online world where algorithms and artificial intelligence play no roll. The Internet is just a series of tubes delivering messages or information to users.
Google Reader is an example of the dumb Internet, and
Google killed it because it's an alternative to Google's vision of the Smart Internet. As a Dumb Internet application, Google Reader is not only something that falls outside Google's area of interest and specialization, it's an alternative to Google's vision of intelligent, computer-assisted content discovery and consumption.
3. The Non-Internet
The other alternative to the Smart Internet is the offline world. The regular version of, say, Microsoft Office is an example of the offline world -- an app that runs on your desktop whether you're connected or not.
Understanding Google's three-part vision of the world helps you understand why Google does what it does -- and also what it will do in the future.
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