Google "glue"? Will Google adhere to you?
Microsoft wants to build its ecoYystem!o sell more Microsoft products and services. Google wants to find potential employees, create an environment where users can create useful Gadgets, and foster a more diverse universe of applications that have Google at their center.
In May 2007, Google announced Gears, which is a browser extension. Gears theoretically would make it possible for a Gmail user to work on e-mail when he or she is not connected to the Internet. Gears is designed to work with most major operating systems. A developer can make any cloud-based application work offline, not just Google applications.
Where's the glue? Obviously these programs, applets and developers coalesce around Google. But the glue is more sticky. Were you aware that Google provides cloud-based services to a number of major universities? Examples include San Jose State and Arizona State University. Google wants students to become familiar with Google services. Google wants programmers and computer science students to know how to create applications that use Google as an operating framework.
When those young people graduate, most will find jobs. What will be the application development model for them? What will be their familiarity with Google functions? What will be their comfort level with things Google? You can see that the "glue" is a hierarchy of activities that begin with learning and creating software that costs nothing to use. At the middle level of the hierarchy are individual developers and commercial concerns creating products, customizing Google services such as the Google search appliance, and generating revenue for themselves and Google. At the highest level, Google is recruiting, expanding its product and service offerings, and pumping oxygen into its rapidly evolving ecosystem. The glue, therefore, binds together Google, developers and users in a non-directive way. The approach is low key, almost indirect. It is slow moving. The method does not depend upon any single initiative for success. Much was made of Google's hiring Vic Gundotra in 2006. The reality is that Gundotra is one more molecular element in the Google glue. True, Google's developer initiative is more structured now than it was two years ago. But it is still early days.
Test the stickiness of Google glue yourself. Sign up as a developer or Get an "ig" account and experiment with Google's point-and-click customization. Will you adhere to Google or will Google "glue" itself to you?