“Visitors notice that Google’s got no fancy graphics. It’s got
no hook for e-mail or free Web pages. In fact, it’s a minimalistic
triumph. A sea of white is politely interrupted by a small
rainbow-colored Google logo, a search box and the “feeling lucky?”
option which will take you right to the first result of your
search.”
“You’ll notice on our front page it’s not hard to find the
search box,” Brin nods. “And it loads really quickly.” He’s not
messing around…”
“Its back end is built of 2,000 low-end PCs, Brin explains,
a cheaper alternative to other search-engines’ machines. All the
machines run Linux, but Brin won’t bite on the political element of
choosing Linux over Microsoft. “The cost of NT licenses for 2,000
machines is nontrivial,” he offers, unflinchingly.“