Reporter： What led to Google’s decision to use Linux? When did that start?
记者：是什么让谷歌决定采用Linux 的？是何时开始的？
Brin: Well, Larry Page and I were in the Stanford PHD program in Computer Science. And we developed Google there. The way the computer science program worked is there was a hodgepodge of computer equipment lying around, and we would grab whatever scraps we could. We had all kinds of computers: HPs, Suns, Alphas and Intel’s running Linux. So, we gained a lot of experience with all of those platforms. When we started Google, we had to make the decision of what we wanted to use. Of course we chose Linux, because it is the most cost-effective solution. PCs are not only much cheaper these days，but we can also get them very quickly, because they’re such a commodity item. That’s an incredible benefit. We just installed another 1,000 computers and we got that done in a few weeks. That’s really hard to do with any other kind of workstation I think that’s an advantage that people don’t entirely realize.
布林：嗯，我和拉里?佩琦在做斯坦福 大学计算机科学的博士项目时创立了谷 歌。在做计算机科学程序时，周围有很 多计算机设备，我们可以接触到很多对 我们有用的东西。我们有各种各样的计 算机：惠普的、Sun的、阿尔法的和因 特尔运行Linux系统的。因此，我们积 累了很多关于这些平台的经验。当我们 创立谷歌的时候，就需要决定我们使用 什么操作系统。那我们理所当然地选择 了 Linux,因为它的性价比最好。现在， 个人计算机不仅仅便宜了很多，而且也 可以轻而易举地买到，计算机实在是太 实用了。这益处简直令人难以置信。才 几个星期，我们又安装了 1000台计算 机。这对于其他的工作室来说是很难完 成的任务。我想，这是一个人们还没有 完全意识到的优势。
Reporter： Did you view it as being better, or was cost the main reason?
记者：你觉得它的性能更出众？还是价 格才是主要原因？
Brin： It was better in some ways. Certainly for our purposes, we felt the support was better. For example, the actual kernel authors will respond to problems pretty quickly. They are especially responsive to Google nowadays, since we’re so widely used. We can have a 15 minute turnaround. You can’t really beat that for support. That was an important factor, but frankly, the cost was a bigger issue. PCs are so cheap, which is very important. Sun’s Solaris is probably more stable than Linux on PCs. It’s hard to determine the blame, whether it’s the hardware or the operating system. But, it's a minor difference.
布林：从某些方面来讲，它的性能更 好。当然，从我们的目的来看，我们觉 得它提供了更好的支持。比如，实际的 核心开发者可以很快地对问题作出回 应。现在，他们对谷歌特别地负责，因 为谷歌的使用频率很高。我们可以有15 分钟的周转时间。在支持方面我们是最棒的。那是一个重要的因素，但坦率地 说，费用真的是更重要的问题。很重要 的一个原因是个人计算机太便宜了。比 起Linux来，Sun的Solaris操作系统用 在个人计算机上可能相对稳定一些。很 难区别到底是硬件还是操作系统的原 因。但是，差别不大。
Reporter: Then, does all of your support come from newsgroups or do you actually pay for it through Red Hat?
记者：那么，你们所有的支持都来自网 络群组吗？还是说，事实上你们是通过 红帽付款的？
Brin: We have an operations team of about ten people, which helps a lot. And other than that we check newsgroups and e-mail the authors of the code. Usually, if it’s a problem we can’t figure out, we go straight to the authors.
布林：我们有一支10人左右的操作团 队，他们帮了很大的忙。另外，我们也 通过网络群组和电邮检查代码编者的相 关信息。通常，如果这是我们判断不了 的问题，我们会直接与编者联系。
Reporter: Is Linux used on desktops at Google?
记者：谷歌的台式电脑也用Linux系统吗？
Brin： It depends. Engineering mostly runs Linux. Business development/marketing runs Windows. Actually, I use Linux with VMWare running Windows. Some people have two computers, particularly some people in engineering who do UI development and need to test things out on Windows platforms. I find it better to just use VmWare and have one computer.
布林：不一定。大多数工程师会用。商务 拓展和市场部门的人用Windows操作系 统。事实上，我用Linux，同时用虚拟机 运行Windows系统。有些人有两台电脑， 尤其是一些做UI开发和需要在Windows 操作平台上作测试的工程人员。我认为 只用一台电脑，然后用虚拟机比较好。
Reporter: In a technical sense, what does Linux lack? What does it not provide?
记者：从技术角度分析，什么是Linux系 统所没有的？有什么是它所不能提供的？
Brin: The 64-bit file system，which I know they are working on. It’s slowly coming around. I think there are still occasionally some stability issues. I’m not saying Linux is unique in that respect, but you definitely want to have reliability There are some issues dealing with higher memory systems. If you get to 2GB, and you try to push it past that, we encounter various problems. I know we’ve had some trouble with the network stack when we really push it hard. In terms of having lost most connections from lots of different machines.
布林：64位文件系统。我知道他们正在 开发。不久就会问世。我觉得，偶尔还是 会有一些稳定性方面的问题。我并不是说 Linux在这一方面特立独行，但是人们也 很看重可靠性。有一些处理高端记忆系统 的问题。如果达到2G，并且还想超越的 话，我们会遇到各种问题。我知道驱动力 过大的时候，我们遇到过一些网络问题。 与很多不同的机器失去了联系。
Reporter Well, you’re getting quite a few hits per day, aren’t you?
记者：嗯，你们现在每天的点击率都非常高，不是吗？
Brin: Yes, we are. We do about ten millions searches per day at Google.com. And another six million or so from OEM customers. So，we get a lot of hits. And when we crawl the Web, we crawl it pretty quickly, which can really stress the system.
布林：是的，非常高。谷歌网站每天接 受大约1000万次的搜索。同时，其他 签约客户带来大约600万次的点击率。 因此，我们的点击率很高。而当我们检 索网页的时候，速度很快，这也给系统 带来了很大压力。
Reporter: Has your system been down entirely?
记者：你们的系统有过完全瘫痪的时候 吗？
Brin: No, but we certainly have individual computers go down. Our system has a lot of redundancy built into it， so the users don’t see it from the outside.
布林：没有，但是我们遇到过完全瘫痪 的个人电脑。我们的系统存在许多备用 空间，用户从外表是看不出来的。
Reporter: I‘ve read that you have developed your own network installation tools...
记者：我听说你们开发了自己的网络安 装工具？
Brin: Yeah. We’ve re-used various components of things that people have built; we’ve had to now re-do them quite a bit ourselves. We have 5,000 computers now, and that’s actually a fair amount of work to install. So we have our own network install system—where we can bring up 80 computers at a time. And we have our own testing software and monitoring tools to keep track of what the computers are doing, what state they’re in. So, we’ve had to do a fair amount of development.
布林：是的。我们重新利用了他人已经创 造的很多元素；我们要做的是把它们重 新做成属于我们自己的东西。我们现在 有5000台计算机，而实际上有大量的安 装工作要做。因此，我们有自己的网络安装系统---次可以安装多达80台电脑。同时我们也有自己的检测软件和监测工 具，以了解计算机的工作进程和状态。因 此，我们需要进行一系列的开发工作。
Reporter: Of the 5,000 computers used by Google, can you roughly breakdown what they are used for，i.e., 3000 perform searches, 1000 do OEMs, 500 do web crawling, etc.?
记者：能给我们讲一下谷歌5000台计 算机的具体分工吗？比如，其中3000 台做搜索，1000台用于对外签约授权， 500台做网页检查等等？
Brin： Without giving specific numbers, we can say approximately 80% of the machines are used for performing searches (google.com and partners); about 10% of the machines are used for Research and Development and another 10% of the machines are used for preproduction (crawling and indexing the web).
布林：先不谈具体数字。我们大约80% 的机器用于搜索（谷歌主页与合作网 站）；大约10%用于研发，另外的10% 用于试生产（网页检测和索引）。
Reporter: Are the tools worth releasing to the Open Source community?
记者：这些工具值得向开源社区发布 吗？
Brin That’s an interesting question. I mean, I don’t know of too many installations that are of comparable size to ours, but it certainly is, now that you mention it, something we would consider. I don’t think that any of them are robust enough or clean enough at this point and time. But, I think we can get them to that state if other people would take over the maintenance and contribute. I just don’t think that there are too many people who would end up using them.
布林：这个问题很有趣。我是说，我知 道的安装程序里，没有几个可以和我们的产品相提并论的，但是当然，现在你 提到的有些东西是我们应该考虑的问 题。我认为此时此刻没有什么工具是足 够强大或是从未被使用过的。但是，如 果有其他人愿意接管维护工作并作出贡 献，我们愿意提供帮助。我只是认为最 后不会有多少人会使用它们。
Reporter: You’ve had a variety of new things come up over the past year. What do you like the most?
记者：去年你们作了很多新的开发，您 最喜欢的是什么？
Brin: I’m really excited about our self-serve AdSense. I think this is changing webmasters’ lives. They can make money on something that was a hobby, and they don’t have to do weird search deals. I’m hoping that it can help spur the next generation of content development on the Web. You can’t do a good job of search unless what you’re looking for is out there.
布林：自助广告业务的开通真的让我很 兴奋。我想这正在改变网络管理人员的 生活。他们可以用自己的爱好赚钱，并 且不需要做各种奇怪的搜索生意。我希 望这可以激励下一代网站内容的开发。 除非你想要找的东西是公开的，否则你 无法把搜索工作做得很出色。
Reporter Is Google a technology company or a media company?
记者：谷歌是一个技术公司还是传媒公 司？
Brin: Google has an important technology component But we also care about the utility of the technology and for our advertising network and publishers. So, I think we’re a technology company that applies technology to media.
布林：谷歌有一个很重要的技术组成部 分。但我们同样关心技术的应用，以及广 告网络和出版商。因此，我认为谷歌是一个致力于将技术应用于传媒的技术公司。
Reporter Are there any circumstances in which Google might buy Microsoft? Or, the opposite?
记者：谷歌是否有可能会收购微软？或者被微软收购？
Brin: I think there are a lot of liabilities in acquiring Microsoft. Over time, there have been a number of companies that have approached us. We’ve always said ‘no’ thus far. We think our company has a lot of promise. We’re pleased with the trajectory that we’re on and so it’ s not a very likely thing to happen in my mind. But it would be silly to discount a serious approach from anyone.
布林：我认为要收购微软我们会欠下很 多债务。长期以来，已经有很多公司与 我们进行洽谈。至今我们一直都在拒 绝。我们认为谷歌很有前途。我们对现 在运行的轨道很满意，所以，在我看 来，这是不太可能发生的事。但是，对 一次严肃认真的洽谈不作考虑，是很愚 蠢的行为。
Reporter: What do you do to go beyond links as a way of improving results?
记者：你们如何超载链接以完善搜索结 果？
Brin: There are completely new ranking technologies that we are working on. We try about a half-dozen a month and launch on a limited test basis. We fundamentally work with all of the world’s knowledge. There are just different ways to approach that. There are many, many things you can do, and we’re not going to exhaust them any time soon. Over time, our searches will only get better.
布林：我们现在正在开发全新的排名技 术。我们一个月作6次尝试并在一个受 限制的测试平台上发布。我们的工作基 本上涉及到世界上所有的知识。有很多 不同的方式对它们进行了解。你可以做 的事情有很多很多，我们不会很快将他 们做完。随着时间的推移，我们的搜索 只会越来越好。
Reporter: Will you ever consider supporting paid inclusion?
记者：你们会考虑接受赞助商付费排名 吗？
Brin: You want to keep any kind of payment separate from organic search results. I think it’s important to distinguish those things.
布林：要把任何付费赞助与原始搜索结 果分开。我认为这些东西一定要区分开 来，这很重要。
Reporter: What do you think remains largely unknown about Google?
记者：你觉得谷歌在哪些方面仍需要提 高知名度？
Brin: The tilde operator, a new search command that enables users to search not only for a particular keyword, but also for its synonyms. This is accomplished by placing a ?character directly in front of the keyword in the search box. The calculator, which enables users to solve mathematic problems by entering numeric expressions into the google.com or the Google Toolbar search boxes.
布林：模糊检索。我们有一个新的搜索 命令，让用户不仅可以对关键词进行搜 索，而且也支持近义词检索。用户只需 在搜索栏中输入的关键词前边加上一 个波浪线符号就可实现。还有计算器， 用户可以在谷歌主页或谷歌搜索栏中 输入数学表达式，系统就会解决数学 问题。
Reporter: Could you briefly tell us something about yourself and how you came to work at Google?
记者：能不能简要地给大家介绍一下您 自己以及怎么到谷歌来工作的？
Brin: I was born in Moscow and came to the United States at the age of six. I grew up in Maryland, then went to the computer science program at Stanford. I started there in 1993，where I worked on data mining, which basically involves analyzing vast amounts of data to find interesting correlations and patterns. Then Larry joined in 1995. He started downloading the Web and we analyzed its link structure. We’ve worked together from then on.
布林：我出生在莫斯科，6岁的时候来 到了美国。我在马里兰长大，后来，从 1993年开始我攻读斯坦福大学的计算机 科学专业，我在那儿做数据开发，基本 上是对大量的数据进行分析，并从中找 到有趣的相互关系和形式。1995年拉 里加入，和我一起工作。他开始下载网 页，我们一起对链接结构进行分析。从 那时起我们就在一起共事了。