SOA.WRK.
Microhoo vs Googlezon: Comparing Microsoft Live Mesh with Google (App Engine + Gadgets + GData)
Over the last weekend I tried the Live Mesh tech preview, watched all related videos on channel 9, analyzed demos and example apps, and had fun tracing through the feed-based mesh object model. Overall, I think Live Mesh is a very positive step forward in advancing the web-based application architecture. To some extend, Live Mesh reminds me of features from several Google projects, e.g., Data APIs, Gadgets, and App Engine. The following is a quick comparison between Live Mesh and Google's projects.
| Features | Google (App Engine + Gadgets + GData) | Microsoft Live Mesh | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server Side |
Run-time Language |
Python - some modules disabled for security reasons - no file I/O support |
(Note 1) |
| Webapp Framework |
Django - can use other python web frameworks |
(Note 1) | |
| Database Support |
Built-in datastore - not a true relational database - use GQL, a SQL-like query language |
(Note 1) | |
| Client Artifcats |
HTML and Javascript - support page templates |
(Note 1) | |
| App Configuration |
YAML | (Note 1) | |
| Built-in Services |
- datastore API - Google account API - URL fetch API - mail API |
- identity and directory - synchronized storage - Rendezvous and transport - Activities and news |
|
| Client Side |
Target Clients |
Web browsers and limited desktop | Web browsers and others, e.g., desktop/pda/phone/device apps |
| Client Environment |
Web browser | - MeshFX (Protocols and APIs) or - Mesh Operating Environment (MOE) |
|
| Built-in Services |
Gadgets and extension Javascript libraries, e.g., - UI features: tabs, drag, grid, ... - flash - analytics - finance - opensocial |
Serviced provided in MOE: - Authentication - Extensibility - Formating - Caching - Queries |
|
| Extended Data Model |
Google Data API - Search, Map, Contacts, Docs, YouTube, ... - based on feeds - support ATOM and RSS wire protocols |
Mesh Data Model - for modeling general data and meta attributes - based on feeds - many wire formats: ATOM, JSON, XML, RSS, ... |
|
| Ops Side |
App/Data Hosting |
- appspot.com (free) or - top-level domain (purchased by user) |
- mesh.com (free) - actual data may be hosted on private sites |
| Quotas and Limits |
- 3 apps per developer - 500 MB per application - daily bandwidth and CPU limits |
5 GB of free storage | |
Note 1: Live Mesh services are REST based web services that can be accessed directly from most server-side and client-side apps, not limited by the type of language, server, framework, database, and browser used.
Google has a solid web-based apps and services strategy built from its projects like GData, Gadgets, and App Engine. With popular extensions like Open Social, Google is making significant contributions to the architecture of internet-based application platform. Microsoft pushes the envelop further with Live Mesh. For example, the mesh object model clearly advanced the feed based GData model with interesting new features. How will Google respond? Maybe it will release the long-awaited Google Grid project soon.
Posted at 10:10PM Apr 30, 2008 by tientienli in Personal |