Believing in a simple service

Chrome OS software will be free and Google is not asking netbook makers for any of the revenue, according to Brin.

"The more people that use the internet, the better it is for our business generally," Brin said. "We believe in supporting this ecosystem."

Google is the proven king of pumping cash from online advertising connected to internet searches or services. If a netbook maker wants to use the Google brand on a device, "we will have to talk," Brin said.

Google expects that "early adopters" who opt for Chrome OS netbooks will use them to connect to the internet, but will have other machines for working with proprietary software not available online.

Brin sees Google's Android and Chrome software merging over time as netbooks, laptops, tablets and smartphones converge on the hardware side.

He declined to speculate as to what a cloud computing trend might mean to Microsoft, which built its empire on packaged software.

"I'm not an expert on Microsoft. I just believe in this simple system where you work in the cloud and you are not individually tweaking each thing on each individual machine," Brin said. "I think it is a more efficient way to work. Maybe Microsoft will adopt that model and maybe it will not."

Microsoft has been building more cloud capabilities into its software in what it refers to as a "software plus services" strategy.