Google: Web as programming model 'has won'

InfoWorld - Preaching the Web as the new programming model, Google officials lauded several technologies, including 3-D browser capabilities and an ability to easily add Google applications to Web pages, at the Google I/O conference on Wednesday.

The company also said it would give out 4,000 Android phones to attendees at the event in San Francisco for the purpose of boosting development on the platform. Executives from Google and partners touted HTML 5 as a cornerstone technology enabling a range of capabilities in the browser visualization space.

Also highlighted were a range of developments like an expansion of Java developer access to the Google App Engine cloud platform. Google discussed the upcoming Google Web Toolkit 2.0, which is set to feature such enhancements as browser-based debugging capabilities.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt preached an Internet-based programming model as a successor to mainframe and PC models.

"We finally now have the networks, the businesses, the programmers, the programming tools that can build the kind of platform and the kind of opportunities that I want to highlight," Schmidt said.

Meanwhile, Vic Gundotra, Google vice president of engineering and a former Microsoft employee, told attendees to never underestimate the Web. "It's a mistake I once made," he said.

Gundotra recalled once believing Web applications could never rival desktop applications. But Google's 2004 acquisition of Keyhole, which offered visualization technology that let to Google's Maps application marked a change, he said.

The Web has won, Gundotra said. "It has become the dominant programming model for our time," he said.

HTML 5, said Gundotra, has enabled a move beyond Web 2.0 applications. Chief among the HTML 5-inspired technologies demonstrated was Canvas, offering drawing and animation APIs with pixel-level control.

Gundotra chided Microsoft for standing alone among browser vendors in not supporting Canvas, in its Internet Explorer browser. "Obviously, Microsoft, with its very large market share, could do much to move the Web forward," said Gundotra. Microsoft could not be reached to comment on its Canvas plans on Wednesday.

Google's open-source O3D project was detailed. It offers 3-D graphics inside the browser and featuring a JavaScript API. A demonstration of O3D showed it running inside Google's Chrome browser. But enabling rich 3-D graphics inside browsers by default will require a common set of APIs, said Matthew Papakipos, Google engineering director. Google is working with other browser vendors, such as Apple and Mozilla, on such an effort.

"We still have a long way to go, but we've begun the process," Papakipos said. He also urged developers to build real-world applications for 3-D.

Also cited was an HTML 5 capability enabling browsers to better handle video. The company also launched Google Web Elements, for adding Google applications such as Maps, Search, News and Calendar to a Web site or blog. Developers simply copy and paste the Google application onto a site.