Web Development Live

Google has been courting software developers to entice them into a money-making relationship built on turning its array of online widgets into a global infrastructure.

At a conference in San Francisco, said to be the biggest yet for net developers, the search giant made clear that the Web is the future for application development.

It wants its own bit of web infrastructure the Google Cloud to be more accessible to developers and spent two days wooing them to build and run applications on it.

To encourage them aboard, Google invited the 3,000 developers to mash-up Google’s online services, like Gmail, Docs, Maps and Search, with their own applications.

To show client-cloud connectivity, it showed off Google Gears, a browser add-on in the Adobe Flash mould that allows for richer browser experiences, to improve search in MySpace email.

It then showcased the new Google Web Toolkit, so rich net applications can be Java-built, and the hosting of new Ajax libraries, which enhances applications via JavaScript tagging.

Top of its agenda, Google wants the web browser the enabler of its cloud to have more functionality, interaction and to evolve so it becomes as powerful as its desktop counterpart.

“These diverse tools and technologies might seem loosely unintegrated and targeted at different areas,” said Ovum analyst Madan Sheina.

“In fact they’re all cogs and wheels of a more meaningfully connected web that hosts Google web services powered by the Google App Engine. Importantly some of these web services and applications aren’t written just by Google, but by an entire market of independent developers.”

The analyst believes most of these third-party developers no longer build ‘cool’ web applications just for the sake of it; rather they want a slice of Google as a lucrative advertising business.

“Google likes to separate its web development technologies from its advertising. But the two are inextricably linked,” Ms Sheina said.

“Google’s monetisation strategy is simple. Invest in advancement of the web by allowing users to do more on the internet. That makes the Web a much bigger market for Google to monetise services like search.”

As an avid Apple afficianado and advocate of all things open source, my stance on Microsoft is usually clear-cut: I don’t care for it.  Everything about Microsoft’s business practices rubs me wrong.  With that said, I was surprised to learn that Microsoft has been toying with its own little pet social network since the beginning of the year.

Well “social” might not be quite the right term for Microsoft’s baby network, which is called TownSquare.  Consider it a more elite community of Microsoft nerds.  Perhaps a better term would be the anti-social network.  Townsquare is an intranet-based social network currently open to all Microsoft employees, and shares many similarities with Facebook.

All the normal social goodies - pictures, bios, updates, feed are included on TownSquare for each user and shared with the Microsoft community.  Additionally, Microsoft employees can see when documents and files on the intranet have been updated  or modified.  The whole thing is designed on enterprise newsfeeds to compile various public information about employees on the network.

Microsoft is also sharing TownSquare with a group of select consumers who are responsible for testing Townsquare.  All the testing and restructuring can’t possibly be for Microsoft’s own good time, though; it wouldn’t surprise me if Microsoft did a revision or two and marketed the intranetwork social structure to businesses.  As one of the main features is updating users on document and data revision on the intranet, many businesses could, no doubt, benefit from such advances.

Which brings me back to my original issue with Microsoft.  What could be a fantastic tool developed by some no-name third party developer will undoubtedly be marketed for sale by Microsoft to small business owners who will buy into the product simply because it has Microsoft’s stamp of approval.  If anything, I would be delighted to see a third party developer replicate the social structure for viewing profiles and updating intranet-public documents as open-source freeware, available to all.

The entire reason I believe that Microsoft will continue to spiral downward is because the who’s who in Microsoft’s management will never be able to adapt to the new, very open style of program sharing and development, and leave behind the monopoly mindset. In the end, Microsoft will have to buy into a little Darwinian theory and adapt and evolve, or go the way of the dinosaurs.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.

Salesforce.com has extended its platform as a service offering with the addition of Force.com Development-as-a-Service - a new set of development tools and APIs that help enterprise developers harness the full potential of cloud computing. Force.com, which was first unveiled during the company’s Dreamforce conference in September, is built on the company’s proprietary Visualforce technology. It gives customers, developers and independent software vendors (ISV) the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service.A new API will allow developers to access Salesforce metadata. Developers will be given full access to the platform, offering data that had previously been managed by wizards and setup tools. Salesforce also unveiled a new integrated development environment, and a service known as 慍odeshare which allows developers to collaborate remotely on a project. A new ’sandbox’ option allows developers to test applications in a protected environment. The new tools are part of a larger campaign to bring third-party developers onboard. Salesforce plans to promote Force.com with a global tour dubbed ‘Tour de Force’.Salesforce.com has also released a new pay-per-login payment option for users to access applications developed on its Force.com platform.An enterprise building a low-volume, occasional use application through Force.com, such as an online vacation scheduling app, faces a list price of USD 5 for each user login, but will only be charged 99 cents through 2008 in an effort to promote use of the new platform. More frequently used applications will carry a fee of USD 50 per user per month for an unlimited number of logins.