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.