Google (GOOG) Gives Away Storage, Until It Doesn't

Google (GOOG) is launching a nifty new program. It allows programmers who use its Google App Engine to tap the company’s server infrastructure to store their work. That is until they want to store more than a little of their work.

According to The Wall Street Journal "Google is letting software developers run their Web applications on its technology infrastructure in a move that highlights the increasing competition between tech companies to provide the computing and network backbones that power Web services."

The program does form a bond between programmer and search company. Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), and Yahoo! (YHOO) have no such programs. Most software coders view Redmond as having some enemy status. Coding for Windows gives the world’s largest software firm more ammo to rule the globe.

Google’s new initiative is not all charity. Once programmers hit a certain level of storage, they have to pay Google a fee. For a company which relies so much on advertising, it is a smart move, but not nearly so eleemosynary as it seems at first blush.

Even the gift of the Trojan Horse was not entirely without cost. 

Douglas A. McIntyre