Outside Innovation

Who Will Use Google App Engine?

At Web Expo 2.0, I attended the session on Google App Engine and listened to the Q&A between the Web applications developer community and the Google App Engine product development team. I also managed to get my own coveted code that will let me in to the beta program. Now, I just need to find a real developer I can work with to take advantage of this application platform. I’ve already gotten some push back from people who have looked at Google App Engine and claim that no real applications will wind up there. So I thought it would be useful to think about the kinds of Web Applications that are most likely to gravitate to Google and the kinds of people who will create them. The short answer is this: If your product or service is information, Google App Engine is of interest. If accessing and manipulating the information about your products and services is increasingly important to your prospects and customers, then Google App Engine should be of interest.

Business Strategists Who See the Potential. As the CEO of a small consulting/publishing business, I may not be Google’s target audience for this development platform, but I believe I actually represent the ideal strategist who can take advantage of this environment. There may be lots of other small business owners and professionals like me who will be early adopters. In my case, I’m looking for a Web applications platform upon which I can start over. I want to re-envision and redeploy Web applications that will provide value for my clients. Not just a new Web site, but a new Web platform. I want to be able to design, throw away, and redesign an iterative series of information-based applications. Why not start fresh with an infrastructure that I know will scale, that will be easy to search, and one that will have hundreds of thousands of developers sharing tips and techniques (as well as applications)?

Microsoft Mesh--File Sharing; Not Cloud Computing

Synchronizing Your Life in Microsoft's Cloud

Another theme at Web 2.0 Expo this week is that the Internet IS the computer. The “computers” that you THINK are computers, e.g., the various devices we use to interact and do our jobs, are simply that—devices—that are connected (on and off) to the REAL computer in the sky—the CLOUD. The concept of cloud computing isn’t new, but it’s been getting a lot of attention recently as Google announced its App Engine and Amazon dramatically increased the storage and utility of its Elastic Cloud. I listened in anticipation as Microsoft’s Amit Mittal unveiled Microsoft Mesh at Web 2.0 Expo.

This first instantiation of Microsoft Mesh is a fairly simple concept. It’s a utility that lets you synchronize all your contacts, calendar entries, music libraries, and file folders across all of your devices. Right now, these are Windows devices, and soon they’ll be Mac devices. Next, add your set-top box, mobile phone, PDA, and your car’s music library.

It’s not too surprising that Ray Ozzie, who brought us the best offline/online synchronization services as instantiated in Lotus Notes, would out-Lotus IBM with this “replication/synchronization in the Microsoft cloud” utility.

It’s also interesting to note that Microsoft’s first mesh application is about “my stuff”—synchronizing my stuff and sharing my stuff with trusted colleagues. Eric Schonfeld’s post at Tech Crunch offers the best current description of the Microsoft offering and strategy:

“A hundred of Ozzie’s engineers have been working on Mesh for the past two years. At launch, it may not seem like much more than a combination of Windows Live SkyDrive and FolderShare, but under the hood it is an ambitious platform play. Mesh is really aimed at developers. Not only does it provide a framework for syncing files between devices, it can also sync applications. The way it does this is by using a two-way RSS or Atom feed developed by Ozzie called FeedSync, formerly called Simple Sharing Extensions.”

“The basic foundation of Mesh is this feed-centric programming model. A Web developer can build an app using any programming language or tools he likes (Python, Ruby on Rails, Flex) and then sync it across devices and other applications using two-way feeds as the basic data and communication channel. The promise for developers, says product unit manager Abhay Parasnis: “If you Mesh-enable your application, we will let you extend it to other devices.”

“Microsoft is offering a set of Mesh APIs that include storage services, membership, sync, peer-to-peer communication, and a Newsfeed feature that tells users the status of different folders and who’s accessed them. The same programming model works whether a developer is building an app for an offline device or for the Web.”

“In many ways this effort is a counterweight to what we are seeing with Adobe Air or Google Gears, which are efforts to take browser-based apps offline. With Mesh, Microsoft is in effect reasserting the primacy of client-based applications. They need not be Windows-based, but I’m sure that won’t hurt. Developers can customize their apps for whatever device they originally reside on—whether it is a PC, a smartphone, or a set-top box—and then Webify them by syncing them to other applications across the Web. These apps could be more powerful than apps confined to a browser-like sandbox without giving up the connectivity of the Web.”

 

Schonfeld goes on to compare the LiveMesh replication feature to Geni—a non-Microsoft synchronization service. He also quotes from Ray Ozzie’s internal positioning of LiveMesh to Microsoft’s employees and describes Microsoft’s developer strategy. Take a look at his analysis and description as well as the flood of comments that are already pouring in.