Previously, Cerf was working at telecoms firm MCI Inc, which is in the middle of a merger with rival Verizon Communications Inc. He developed MCI Mail, one of the first commercial email programs in the mid-1980s and for the past decade was working on various Internet projects for MCI.
Chief Internet Evangelist…that suggests I should go from three-piece suits to some sort of ecclesiastical robes, Cerf quipped about his unusual new title.
Cerf, who will be responsible for developing Internet applications for Google, is the latest high profile developer to recently join the Mountain View-based firm. Others include Adam Bosworth, an XML pioneer who is now Google’s vice president of engineering and Mark Lucovsky, who was part of Microsoft Corp’s team that developed Windows NT.
Microsoft has accused Google of poaching some its top engineering talent as it tries to crack the Chinese market.
