Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has come up with a new plan to make friends with developers. Software engineers who use the Google Apps Engine to build products will get free access to run their application developments in Google data centers. According to The Wall Street Journal :"Google will provide limited data storage, computing and network capacity as part of the App Engine test and eventually make available additional storage and network bandwidth to developers for a fee."
It is another clever move by the big search company. It encourages developers to align themselves with Google products and services and allows the company the chance to make money down the road. It also makes Google seem "progressive" in its relationships with outside software coders, a reputation that rival Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) does not share. Redmond still charges for most developers to use its services although its does provide some code to companies who want to build applications for Windows.
Google is also taking advantage of the fact that it has one of the largest , if not the largest, collections of servers in the world. Not all of the data and storage capacity on these machines is being used all of the time. What Google will eventually charge developers for is running on hardware the company has already paid for. That makes the project a very profitable business and helps the company diversify away from search revenue.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-09-2008 @ 12:53PM
mitch stephens said...
OK, so on face value, the Google Apps platform is very appealing.. free processing power & storage.. who could fault that. But wait... lets look at the restrictions, at least for now:
1. Python??? Come on, that means learning a whole new language which by the way, looks nothing like any of the c-derivative languages (Java, C#, etc)
2. Can you you use component libraries? Almost any REAL application will be pieced together with building blocks from other vendors. For example: an imaging library, PDF library, crypto, zip, office conversions, and the list goes on....get the point?? In the short term you will need to find python-based tools to integrate with, or you will need to make external (SOAP, REST) calls to handle this stuff.. that's not going to work.
3. Pre-built frameworks like DNN, which can save years of work, will not run here.
3. From what I can tell, this is not a normal ISP type of offering, so managing your site will not be as easy as the tools from ISPs, who normally allow you to use products like FrontPage (which gives you one click publishing).
And finally, what is a developer actually saving? You can get a pretty nice ISP package for about $10 a month.. at least good enough to handle the LIKELY traffic you will have in your new 'killer' application.
Some companies even give unlimited bandwidth. If you really have an application that is used by millions of people, then trust me, you can afford to host it anywhere. Pop a few ads on the site, and you will easily cover the ISP costs.
I think you will see that you can get to end-of-job a lot sooner with the tools and technology you already know how to use.. your time is WAY more valuable than the few bucks you will save on paying for the platform.
Having said all that, I do think that the Google juggernaut IS the platform of the future, and I love their bold moves and aggressive embracing of 'freeconomics'. However, this specific offering is actually less important to most developers than some of the other things they are working on, such as Google Docs, Sites, Maps, Phone etc. You can still create very cool mash-ups using those technologies, from your existing tools.. and with Google sanctioned API wrappers.