That argument didn't make a lot of sense then either. The specific algorithms that Google had patented gave it a runaway lead in implementing the kind of index that we now recognise as a crucial element of relevance. Anyone with knowledge of the domain could see that this was a revolution.

Even odder is that there's no mention in the piece about the long-raging battle with Yahoo over the Overture ad-bidding IP, a huge achilles heel for Google at the time which somehow just melted away 10 days before the IPO (but 4 months after this article).