I disagree that oil is a better business than Google. Each dollar of gross profit for a company like Exxon requires a lot more operations than each dollar of gross profit for a company like Google (It's something like 50% more now, even after Google has captured a significant majority of online advertising and begun dithering around looking for more businesses to get into). Microsoft's licensing power gives it a nearly silly position in this comparison (but that has long since ceased to be a major growth industry, disappointing investors).

Energy certainly provides an opportunity to establish a huge operation and make huge profits, but it also requires a huge amount of capital.