Mr Schmidt, who at Sun was involved in the creation of Java, the Internet's programming language of choice, has impeccable geek credentials.

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But they highlight one of the Internet's most enduring (and some would say annoying) geek fights.

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Most popular guesses about the Internet's commercial future have concentrated on fashionable new companies run by geek billionaires.

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Though she says she's long been interested in computers and first explored the Internet in the pre-Web days of 1991, she says she's not much of a geek herself.

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