What does it take to be a Google?

Here are some of the bare minimum qualities a company needs to possess to "Be a Google" -

1. Extremely Short product cycle times - From idea conceptualization to the first beta
2. Open communication across the corporate management (and technical) executive lines (most often companies spend too much time on funding and the related areas)
3. Use the best web platform - Preferably one that is really light weight - Zope works well for Google
4. Have a good deployment strategy in place - Low cost, High Efficiency - Use Linux based servers!
5. The cost of memory is dropping drastically - Its approaching zero cost - Don't try to limit the memory alloted to each user - Users love more memory (which translates to more 'Freedom' to do what they want)
   
6. Hire top-notch techies to be able to convert idea to a prototype to a beta to a full version
7. Have large reserves of capital for research and product marketing
8. Concentrate less on proprietary software and business models
9. Kick of multiple simple and powerful product initiatives - Not to pack everything into a powerhouse - Its like putting all eggs into one basket!
   
10. Know when to quit - Don't beat a dead horse!

Not sure if Microsoft has better plans and strategies in place (if they convert the Yahoo! bid to a success) to compete with Google. I've seen a fundamental difference in the way the two companies (MS and GOOG) have looked at the software industry (MS is more in the proprietary software space, while GOOG is more in the free-to-use software space).

I'm sure things will unfold in the days to come. Lets wait and watch!