09 Apr Is Google AppEngine Worth Checking Out?
In short, yes it is. It isn’t for everyone, though. AppEngine is in the same space as that of Amazon’s EC2 service. Both offer virtual hosting services that can seamlessly scale up to meet demand. Unlike EC2, Google’s service is free and includes 500MBs of storage and ample bandwidth to boot (sounds good to me). AppEngine is a developer’s environment, which means you’ll need to have a working knowledge of programming languages. For the time being, this means knowing Python. From GOOG:
Google App Engine lets you run your web applications on Google’s infrastructure. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it’s ready to serve your users.
They keep saying “easy” a lot, don’t they? Personally, this is great news. I am very happy to see Python (and Django, by extension) get the exposure it so greatly deserves. Anyone interested in getting their hands dirty using Python should definitely jump on Google’s free offer.
