Newsletter

Holy crap: Google App Engine!

Update: whoa, check out one of the first demo apps: HuddleChat
Update 2: as usual, Google does a better job of explaining their own products than I do.

Probably unsurprisingly, there are a number of unlaunched Google projects I learned about while I worked there last summer. Unfortunately, I've had to keep my lips completely sealed due to the NDA I signed. So, I've had some amount of quiet and unshared (at least, outside of Google) anticipation for a number of different things I happen to know Google has been working on.

Few of these things, however, even come close to matching my anticipation for the service that was finally released today.

Even though I knew Google planned to release a web-services platform, I didn't fully understand the details. I was sort of expecting a me-too competitor to Amazon Web Services, and figured Amazon had simply beaten Google to the punch here. Hey, it could happen.

However, with the public release of Google App Engine, I am again blown away by the details with which Google nailed this product.

TechCrunch just covered the launch, and although their initial article simply reported the news, I expected more thought and speculation on how much this is a game-changer. Every crappy part of AWS is fixed. There are some limitations that Google App Engine has that AWS doesn't (only Python is supported, say), but these are silly when compared to the limitations of AWS*:

• cost - App Engine is free under certain very reasonable limits, AWS is not.
• elasticity - load balancing and replication are automatic with App Engine, not AWS
• simplicity - the only work involved with App Engine is writing some Python code; you don't have to manage your own virtual machine images

* I haven't actually used AWS, and I've only used internal Google technologies (basically App Engine, but not exactly), so this feature comparison is based on my loose reading of news clippings.

Here's what I see happening:

1. The barrier to entry for scalable website design is totally lowered. Tons of developers see this and go "ooh, neat, I can write that personal project pretty easily now" and do so.
2. Some of these projects become financially viable from Google Advertising, but where the costs would usually go straight into maintenance for the growing user demand, Google manages it all very cheaply and efficiently. Instead of developers having to choose between killing their project due to too much demand or quitting their day job just to support it, Google eases the maintenance of the site considerably. Futhermore, the cost-effectiveness of running your own service is now much better due to the low over-head costs. Developers actually could quit their day jobs.
3. Many new, innovative services start springing up like wildfire, and don't be surprised to find that they're all only one or two man shops.

I've already been convinced that Android is going to completely revolutionize the cellphone market, and I feel the same way about Google App Engine. Even though AWS really started this product space, App Engine seems like enough done right that this will open the floodgates on cloud application hosting. I do not expect Google App Engine to simply be a footnote in the history of the internet.

If you're interested in developing for App Engine, make sure you sign up soon, as there's only a limited number of trial accounts during the preview release.

We could totally rewrite Chipmark on Google App Engine. That would be sweet.