TimmyHWeb App Writers: Rejoice, Beware
December 1st 2008 07:23
Web applications are programs, such as word processors or multiplayer games, that run entirely through a user's Web browser. As such, they change the landscape of software as fundamentally as blogging has changed publishing. Web applications allow a programmer to reach any user, regardless of operating system. Small companies (as Salesforce.com was at first) can use them to take on the giants. Large companies such as Google and Adobe are betting on them to challenge the dominance of Microsoft's Office suite.
A Web application, of course, includes software that does whatever the application is intended to do. But it also includes software and hardware that deal with the traffic of people using it. It may require expensive servers and software that divides the application's processing and storage tasks, distributing them efficiently across many machines. Developers have to master what amount to two pretty disparate skills. Though a thorough understanding of infrastructure can help with application design, it's not how most application developers want to spend their time. Yet it's important to get the infrastructure right. A sudden increase in Web traffic can kill an unprepared startup, as would-be Google challenger Cuil demonstrated earlier this year, when substantial downtime on launch day soured public opinion. On the other hand, a startup that tries to be too prepared can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on hardware that winds up going unused.
Google App Engine, which leases infrastructure to companies that need it, enters a field dominated by Amazon.com and its Amazon Web Services. Amazon rents out its excess storage and processing power, and customers--including many startups--pay only for what they use.
Google, making characteristic use of its vast resources, is trying to do Amazon one better: App Engine doesn't even start charging money until an application uses more than 500 megabytes of storage or serves more than five million page views a month. The premium version of the service isn't yet available to developers, but Tom Stocky, a Google product manager, says the company hopes that only mature applications will need it. "Once you get to where you hit the quota, you've hopefully started making money," he says.
By Harry Campbell
Google App Engine, which leases infrastructure to companies that need it, enters a field dominated by Amazon.com and its Amazon Web Services. Amazon rents out its excess storage and processing power, and customers--including many startups--pay only for what they use.
Google, making characteristic use of its vast resources, is trying to do Amazon one better: App Engine doesn't even start charging money until an application uses more than 500 megabytes of storage or serves more than five million page views a month. The premium version of the service isn't yet available to developers, but Tom Stocky, a Google product manager, says the company hopes that only mature applications will need it. "Once you get to where you hit the quota, you've hopefully started making money," he says.
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