The most straightforward part of Google's investment in AOL were the terms: 5% for a cool $1-billion. Now comes the hard part as the two high-profile companies figure out how to work with each other. Clearly, this isn't a passive investment for Google. Instead, it's a partnership that could lead to much bigger things. There is already evidence the partnership is already in full swing with Google Talk to work with AOL's AIM instant messenger. AOL will let more of its content to be searchable via Google, which makes you wonder if AOL content will receive preferential treatment. Google will also feature AOL content on Google Video, which raises the preferential treatment question again. So is this the big deal everyone was expecting from Google with its $7 billion war chest and $127-billion market capitalization? Does Google double down (or more) on AOL to establish itself as a content player to take on Yahoo while giving itself more AdSense-friendly properties. Or does Google have another big trick up its sleeve? This is what makes Google such fascinating fodder strategically. At this point in the game, it's impossible to tell what Page and Brin are going to do.