I will not rehash the many articles and analyses of the AOL - Google deal announced over the weekend. However I will give you one angle that no writer has mentioned - Eric Schmidt.

I had the good fortune to meet Eric a few times when I ran Internet World and he keynoted while serving as Chief Technology Officer of Sun. I had another brief meeting with him a few years ago when he keynoted a JupiterResearch Advertising Conference in October 2002.

When it came to crunch time to make a deal, he knew that he had to bring home a Google victory. He knew (after 15 years of battling Microsoft at Sun, Novell and now at Google) that Google could not allow a Microsoft-AOL alliance and figured out a way to best Microsoft. He knew that a Microsoft victory would jumpstart Microsoft's efforts at selling ad words. He was willing to bend and allow AOL certain advertising placement advantages on Google in order to secure the deal.

Eric Schmidt was the difference on this deal - make no mistake about it. 15 years of battling Microsoft and a lot of Internet history, gave Eric the impetus to make the deal. Now Google and AOL will reap the benefits of this alliance.