IT Resource

By taking its most emphatic step so far towards a future in which web services supplant most of today’s software, Google last week sent its clearest signal yet to Silicon Valley and Wall Street about where it is heading.

The test version of Google App Engine allows third parties to develop and deploy web applications that run on top of the vast global infrastructure Google has spent billions on to support its search and advertising business.

The third-party apps will reside on Google’s estimated million or so servers and use APIs to access and make use of the software it uses to monitor, manage, secure and scale its cloud computing environment.

As Google has made so much noise about the power and scalability of its infrastructure, and its eagerness to attack Microsoft’s lucrative applications businesses through low-cost web alternatives, it is perhaps surprising that it took so long to open access to its platform.
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Google has moved one step deeper into Microsoft territory by enabling users of its Google Docs online service to edit documents offline. It’s also dipping its corporate toes in Telstra BigPond waters.

Google Docs is a word processing tool that you access online, via a web browser.

It’s part of Google’s free online suite of office software, which also includes a spreadsheet and a PowerPoint-style presentations application.

Since you don’t have to pay for these tools, Google has been hoping to take business away from Microsoft, whose Office suite is a bit pricey in the view of some folk. (In Australia, MS Office prices range from $249 to $1150).

It’s not just the money. There can be other advantages to working online.
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