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Google And Web Services
from the what-next dept
When Google announced their web services API last month that would let anyone build Google searches into their software, the response from the developer community was interesting. Everyone seemed to think it was pretty cool, but very few people could think of why - or what to do with it. While a few developers have come up with cool applications, most are just mucking around. It seems that people who look at the "web services world" have the same opinion. They think that Google's release of their API was cool, but they're not sure what to do with it. They admit that it certainly generated some interest in web services (which the big companies themselves were having difficulty doing), but they're not sure how to follow Google's footsteps.
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The Google API is Huge
Unfortunately, that statement is hard to defend until a remarkable use of the API surfaces. But don't forget what skeptics said back during the pre-boom era, that the Internet was just a pumped-up version of the mail-order catalogue. When a resource or tool as powerful as google is opened up to people, I have to believe in the possibilities for great things. And like all good things, they come in time.
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Re: The Google API is Huge
Hang on, the Internet *is* just a pumped up mail-order catalogue!!!
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Search engine APIs have been around for years
Google's announcement is interesting only in that they've made their API publicly available. Otherwise, this is old stuff, newly positioned as "web services." For instance, search engines like AltaVista, Infoseek, and Inktomi have had published APIs that are essentially web services (tho not using SOAP or XML RPC) since late 1996 (or maybe earlier). The only app these things have been used for so far has been for private labeling search results into portals, as google does for yahoo and aol. The most likely app beyond this is customized automated queries of the google database, for business intelligence applications. Is this a huge market opportunity? Probably not, at least for now...
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