谷歌副总：我们对安卓和Chrome一视同仁

    多年以来，权威人士们一直搞不明白谷歌（Google）为什么需要安卓和Chrome两个计算平台。

    通常来说安卓不会遭到什么质疑，因为它是有史以来最成功的操作系统之一，这也使有些分析人士和投资人开始质疑稍晚推出的Chrome OS操作系统的价值。

    桑德尔•皮恰伊凭借Chrome浏览器和操作系统的成功跻身为谷歌内部说一不二的技术权威，但他经常忽视外界的这些质疑。最近在接受《财富》（Fortune）专访时，这位负责谷歌公司Chrome、安卓和应用部门的高级副总裁表示，谷歌并不需要在这两个平台中做出选择，因为两个平台都很重要。他认为Chrome不仅仅是一个平台或操作系统，而且是包含了Chrome平台上的一整套网络技术。在如今多屏幕的科技世界中，它是对安卓的一个重要补充。

    下文是此次专访的文字节选，为清晰起见进行了编辑和浓缩。

    《财富》：在高层层面上，Chrome平台对谷歌有什么意义？从浏览器和操作系统上它的意义很明确，但是随着它发展出Chromecast谷歌电视棒、Chromebox for Meeting视频会议系统等子产品，Chrome系统的这些衍生系统背后的统一主题是什么？

    皮恰伊：我们的生活中将有越来越多的东西需要实现互联。人们构建网络的最初目的就是互联。Chrome等网络技术将在设备互联方面扮演至关重要的角色。

    Chromecast谷歌电视棒就是一个例子。如果你有一台电视，你把这个小东西插上去，让它播放手机的YouTube视频，它就会播放，非常神奇，而且它工作得既自然又轻松。这就是网络和网络的天性使然，从中也能看到这种模式的美。

    有意思的是，Chrome并不天生就是这样。

    它首先是用在网络上的。很多东西都从桌面应用转移到了浏览器应用，比如Gmail和谷歌地图。虽然我们一开始没考虑这种用途，但它一开始就是为了网络而生的，是为了拓展网络的应用前景。在有了像Chrome这样的大型平台以后能干些什么的问题上，Chromecast给了一个令我兴奋的答案。它给了我们一个机会去做一些其他人不一定会想到的事。

    你怎样解释Chrome对谷歌的战略重要性？

    计算设备在人们的生活中扮演着非常重要的角色，我们现在已经把计算扩展到了很多事情上。随着人们的生活需要越来越多的计算设备，大家会希望它们能协同工作。希望这些屏幕以一种合理的方式共同工作。我觉得我们拥有一个独特的定位，因为我们有两个很好的工具，也就是Chrome和安卓这两个大型开放平台。有了它们，我们就可以把这些资源集中在一起，解决用户面临的问题。

    但是这也造成了一种局面，就是大家肯定会想，这两个平台哪个更好。比如就电视来说，既有基于Chrome的Chromecast，也有基于安卓的谷歌电视。

    如果再考虑得深一些，还有更多的工具和平台摆在面前让你选择。如果你关注的是用户，那么你总是会为这个问题提供最好的解决方案。这是一个很好的问题。

    拉里•佩奇也谈到过多屏幕世界。Chrome在整合多屏幕世界上有多重要？

    我认为它可以扮演一个至关重要的角色——甚至比大多数人想得更重要。今天我未必把Chrome看作一个浏览器，而是看成一个范例，一个平台，一个网络平台。作为网络技术的支持者，它会在确保多屏幕和谐共处、合力协作、造福用户上扮演重要角色。

    对于谷歌自己来说，这两个平台是否存在其中一个比另一个更重要的情况？

    For years, pundits have asked Google why it needs two computing platforms, Android and Chrome.

    Usually, Android is not the issue. Google's mobile OS is one of the most successful operating systems ever, leaving some analysts and investors to question to value of the newer Chrome OS.

    SundarPichai, who rode the success of the Chrome browser and OS to a position of unparalleled technical sway at Google (GOOG), has often brushed aside those questions. In an interview withFortune, Pichai, a senior vice president in charge of Chrome, Apps, and Android, says that Google does not have to choose between the two platforms. Both are important.

    Chrome -- not just the operating system or the browser, but the set of web-based technologies that underpin the platform -- is a vital complement to Android in a multi-screen world, he says.

    Below is a transcript of that conversation, edited and condensed for clarity.

    Fortune: At high level, what's the Chrome platform to Google? With the browser and OS it's fairly clear, but once it branches into Chromecast, Chromebox for Meetings, and so forth, what's the unifying theme behind all those iterations of the platform?

    Pichai: Increasingly we will have more and more things in our lives which have to get connected. The web was built from the ground up to connect things. Chrome and web technologies will play a pivotal role in helping connect things.

    Cast is an example of it. It's amazing that you have a TV and you put this small thing in there, you tell it to play YouTube from the phone. All of it works naturally and easily. That's what the web and its attributes were designed to do. That's the beauty of the model.

    Interesting. Chrome didn't start out that way.

    It started with web. Things were shifting from desktop applications to applications in the browser like Gmail and Maps. While we didn't think of it that way at that time, it's been about the web and what the web can do. It's part of what excites me about being able to have a large platform like Chrome. It gives us a chance to do things that others are not necessarily thinking about.

    How you would explain Chrome's strategic importance to Google?

    Computing obviously is playing a really powerful role in people's lives. We are expanding computing to many things. Increasingly, as you have more computing devices in your life, you want it all to work together. You want these screens to work together in ways that make sense to you. I feel we are uniquely positioned because we have two great tools, in Chrome and Android, two large open platforms, with which we can bring these things together to solve problems focusing on the user.

    That also creates a situation where you must wonder which is the better approach. For television, you have Chromecast and you have Google TV, which is Android-based.

    If you are thoughtful about it, you have more tools and more approaches, and if you focus on the user, you always bring the best solution to the problem. It's a great problem to have.

    Larry Page talks about the multiscreen world. How important is Chrome in making that multiscreen world come together?

    I think it can play a pivotal role -- more profound than most people internalize. [I am] not necessarily thinking of Chrome as a browser today, but as a paradigm, as a platform, as a web platform. As a proponent for web technologies, it will play a critical role in making sure that in a multiscreen world, those screens work together in harmony and work together for users.

    Is one platform more important than the other to Google?