Google Rips Down HuddleChat
Google showcased HuddleChat, a real-time chat application, as one of many test applications (directory here) to show off their new Google App Engine platform last night. — Some bloggers noted that the application was a rip off of Campfire, a 37Signals product.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had launched Google App Engine as a cloud application-hosting service two days earlier, using test applications such as HuddleChat to demonstrate what developers could build on the platform. The app's removal after bloggers compared it to 37signals' Campfire makes the example gallery a reputational issue for Google, not just a technical showcase.
First-order effects
- HuddleChat is removed from Google App Engine's test-application lineup, leaving Google without that real-time chat demonstration.
- Campfire becomes the reference point in a public dispute over whether Google's showcase application too closely resembled a 37signals product.
Second-order effects
- Developers evaluating Google App Engine lose a visible example of real-time chat, increasing the importance of Google's remaining test applications as evidence of the platform's capabilities.
- Google must weigh the demonstrative value of sample applications against the reputational cost when those examples invite comparisons with established products such as Campfire.
Third-order effects
- If platform launches increasingly depend on polished reference applications, operators will face stronger pressure to distinguish demonstrations from imitation of incumbent software products.
- The episode fits a broader shift in which cloud platforms compete not only on infrastructure but also on the applications used to make their developer ecosystems legible.
The trend: Cloud-platform competition is expanding from hosting infrastructure to the credibility and originality of the example applications that recruit developers.