Googles app engine …
… is up and running, there’s a blog, and a wide array of reviews even when it’s still in closed beta (got an invite? please …). Start with Salon Machinist: Google App Engine lets non-Googlers tap into Googly cloud, drop by Richard MacManus aka read/write web: Cloud control to Major Tom and see O’Reillys Brady Forrest’ take: App Engine: Host Your Apps with Google.
Richard makes it clear that everyone should be aware that developing with and for this platform has the potential downside of lock-in: “would you want Google to control your entire end-to-end development environment?”
Hmm, that’s the problem when you ain’t got standardized and open APIs, if the platform is open you can leave if you want or need. Now, using Google-specific libraries looks somehow like choosing lock-in from the start – even when the offer is tempting (small wonder, Google is leveraging their massive scale computing facilities) applications may not be portable.
Anyway, this is possibly no competition to Amazons services like S3 or EC2 but a different kind of (business model) game?
