Zuck minus hoodie.

In an interview with Mark Zuckerberg that airs tonight, Charlie Rose speaks in grave tones about the impending platform cage match that will define our technological future.  "There are many people who look to the Silicon Valley and they say there are four platforms out here. It’s Amazon, it’s Apple, it’s Google, it’s Facebook. And what we’re going to witness over the next 10 years is a flat-out war between the four of you for the future."

Mr. Zuckerberg shrugs off the war metaphor: "I mean, people like to talk about war. You know, there are a lot of ways in which the companies actually work together," pointing to Facebook's mutual back-scratching with Amazon and Apple. (AllThingsD has the full transcript.) But eventually, Zuck concedes, "Google, I think, in some ways, is more competitive and certainly is trying to build their own little version of Facebook."

After taking a look at the newly-launched Google+ Pages for businesses, brands, groups, artists, places, and more along with its Direct Connect feature, it's obvious that Google is not even pretending otherwise anymore.

Even TechCrunch calls Google+ Pages, "another major step needed toward becoming a full-fledged Facebook rival." In a blog post announcing the changes, Google writes:

"So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide."

There are already some problems, such a confusion over the buttons for "sharing a page" vs. "adding to circles". And it could end up as much as an afterthought of Google+ itself.  But if you're looking to figure out how big Google's ambitions are, look no further than this URL:  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-pages-connect-with-all-things.html.

ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE, PEOPLE!

See for yourself: