With Microsoft and Google hosting their respective developer conferences back to back this month, it's hard to not compare their competing visions for the future.

And this is a big topic. So big that I won't be able to cover all of the issues, and the nuances, that this conversation deserves. In some ways, this is an almost infinite conversation, an ever-shifting battle in which both sides have great ideas, great products, and, also, some curious lapses. How we view these firms and their strategies will change over time. Will be different in some ways by next week, even. It's weird.