Google today released (at least to public preview) a web application environment generically called Google App Engine. One of the featured demo applications Huddle Chat is receiving a lot of criticism (John Gruber, Kevin Heisler) for its striking “resemblance” to 37 Signals’ Campfire web application. Resemblance being a polite way of saying copying. When the design and implementation are so similar, its easy to see why many view this as copying or, at the very least, poor form on Google’s part. This blunder just might stall Google App Engine adaption. Google will need to ensure that Google App Engine developer’s ideas, designs, code, and implementation won’t be copied. Otherwise Google may be perceived as another threat among many by programmers and developers.
Mostly musings on design