Google App Engineを利用してより広いユーザ層に開発を促し、さらに自社のデータセンターを開放してスケーラビリティの高いアプリケーション開発を可能にするとの事。
自社の推進しているAndroidプラットホームの浸透によって、オープンで自由度の高いアプリケーションをモバイルの世界で展開する。
Google outlines Web development investments in three areas
Web 'is the only platform we've known,' says Google's chief of engineering
May 29, 2008 (CIO) To encourage the creation of more Web-based applications during the next several years, Google Inc. will invest in three key areas for developers, including opening up its servers to host their applications, encouraging pervasive connectivity to the Web, and making the browser more powerful, said Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering, who gave the opening keynote speech at this year's Google Developer Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
"Google was born in the era of the Web," Gundotra said. "It's the only platform we've known. It was a platform that was formed by consensus. It was all of us collectively that agreed to a few standards. We feel a debt of gratitude toward that community."
Gundotra conceded that Web developers working atop Google-provided development tools and servers would lead to remunerative opportunities for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. "As the Web gets bigger and enables better Web apps, it attracts more users. For us, more users means more Google searches, which leads to more revenue. But the money we make will get dumped back into the platform," he said.
Here's a summary of Google's investment plans (though they never specified dollar amounts):
1. Making the Cloud More Accessible
Google will open up the Google data centers so that developers can more easily scale their applications. This means that developers will still create their app locally on their machines and test it, but once it's ready, they can deploy it to millions of users, according to Gundotra.
This will be done using the Google App Engine. Kevin Gibbs, tech lead for the Google App Engine, told the audience that the product would be free for up to 5 million page views a month. After that, a price plan will be worked out involving metrics such as page views, storage and CPUs.
2. Keeping Connectivity Pervasive
Google believes the mobile revolution will improve connectivity, and it's betting on its Android platform to be the central place for development on top of the mobile Web. Gundotra said the various mobile platforms (such as Windows Mobile, Apple's SDK and Research In Motion's BlackBerry platform) are "too fragmented." In his view, an open source, mobile stack can centralize mobile development, which Google believes will be embodied by Android.
During the presentation, Steve Horowitz, Android's engineering director, displayed the Android platform's capabilities on a touch-screen phone. These included some of Google's basic apps, such as Gmail and calendaring, and a more complex Google Maps feature called street view, which allows users to see pictures of streets in major cities.
3. Make the Client (Browser) More Powerful
Google believes its Gears plug-in (which allows people to take Web apps offline and utilize the power of their desktop) and HTML 5 represent the future of the Web browser. By using these tools to extend the capabilities of JavaScript, Gundotra said, Web apps can become more powerful and more rich.
