Meanwhile, Vic Gundotra, Google vice president of engineering and a former Microsoft employee, told attendees to never underestimate the Web. "It's a mistake I once made," he said.

Gundotra recalled once believing Web applications could never rival desktop applications. But Google's 2004 acquisition of Keyhole, which offered visualization technology that let to Google's Maps application marked a change, he said.

The Web has won, Gundotra said. "It has become the dominant programming model for our time," he said.

HTML 5, said Gundotra, has enabled a move beyond Web 2.0 applications. Chief among the HTML 5-inspired technologies demonstrated was Canvas, offering drawing and animation APIs with pixel-level control.

Gundotra chided Microsoft for standing alone amongst browser vendors in not supporting Canvas its Internet Explorer browser. "Obviously, Microsoft, with its very large market share, could do much to move the Web forward," said Gundotra. Microsoft could not be reached to comment on its Canvas plans on Wednesday.