Tuesday, December 23, 2008

2008 Year in Review



Before looking back on this past year, we'd like to thank the developer community for your involvement and enthusiasm in 2008. Without you none of our accomplishments would've been possible and coming to work would not have been nearly as rewarding or exciting.



In 2008 the developer team at Google made it significantly easier for developers to build increasingly sophisticated web apps. Looking back, some of the most notable events from the last year include the App Engine launch, GWT 1.5 launch, Chrome launch, AJAX Language API launch, AJAX Libraries API launch and the broad adoption of OpenSocial.

We also worked hard to make it simple to integrate and extend Google applications through the launch of the You Tube API, Visualization API, Maps for Flash API, Finance API and Custom Search API.

We were also really happy to participate in the Open Handset Alliance where we saw the announcement of the Android Developer Challenge winners, the Android 1.0 SDK launch, and the first app downloads in the Android Market.

Our favorite part of 2008, however, was interacting with you at Google I/O and at Developer Days. These events allowed us to meet inspirational developers in 15 countries around the world who are building fantastic applications.

In 2009, we look forward to building products to make the web better and that let you, the developer community, build better apps on the web. We are already excited about seeing you at events next year.


Happy Holidays from the Google Developer Team.

12 comments:

  1. I'm really excited about what Google will be working on in 2009 and I wish to see more events for Google in the middle east region to help developers get connected with the latest technologies and best developers in the globe.

    Thank You Google for 2008, waiting for 2009 :)

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  2. We wish the merriest of Christmas to you and your loved ones
    we wish you happiness and prosperity in the year ahead

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  3. I find code.google.com very interresting and I have found much of use. Acctually my newest more commersial blog (Pryltrend.com) I have as one of the goals to "integrate" it fully with your new net-os concpet

    I noticed however a small problem with your blog which you easily can correct.

    Another part of Google have made the following service to find your great collection of blogs in which your Google Code blog of course also exists:
    www.google.com/press/blogs/directory.html#tab3

    As you can see the description for your blog becomes undefined. The reason for that is most likely that you havent set <data:description/> for the blog.

    Maybe you havent done that because you dont want the description text for the blog. But you can set data:description anyway in the GUI without showing it on the blog:

    1. Go to "Layout" in Blogger.
    2. Go to "Edit HTML".
    3. Check "Expand Widget Templates".
    4. Backup the code or even better make a test blog for changes.
    5. Search the code for data:description.
    6. Read the code around that and make sure you understand it.

    7. Blogger help is to my honest quite bad but this is on ther other hand not very advanced so you shouldnt have any problem. And it wouldnt surprice me if you could get help from the Blogger tribe quite easy.

    8. Remove the print out of the data data:description gives. Here you cant remove all the code since Blogger in that case will add it anyway from time to time. Instead keep:
    <b:includable id='description'>
    But without it doing it acctually doing anything.

    That should fix it I think. Your app can access description but you dont have to show it on your blog. To set the description for the blog you can after that for example use the GUI:

    1. Go to "Settings" in the Blogger GUI.

    2. Write a description in the form to right off "Description".

    Also I very much understand that defensive programmering havent been important at all for Google for the traditional funktionality that is close to the user. But considering that you seem to build a "net-OS" or whatever you call it I think you should think more about that. That considering security. Remember all the problems Microsoft had with Microsoft Windows for many years just because they the early years didnt manage to get programmers to think defensive and hande errors.

    That our app writes undefined instead of a custom message could maybe be seened as a small think (which I think it is) but I have started noticed a lot of similar thinks. It seems to become more and more common for Google apps not the have complete error handling.

    If you want to give me something as thanks for the help you could maybe do a blogposting about my Google Blogger tips:
    www.seotaktik.com/2008/12/blogger.html

    Considering that the information we Blogger users get from help and similar most people at least here in Sweden havent any understand how much you acctually can do with Blogger. Most doesnt even realise that you dont have to have a Blog that looks almost the same as everything else or that you can add custom funktionality.

    Only the last months after starting a new blog I dont know how many people that have recommended me to change from Blogger just because "you cant make custom change". People becode very surpriced after I started doing this and also blogged after that.

    So some thanks for that could be a good thing. Also it wouldnt be stupid to take some inspiration from it. Why not make a blog about Blogger / widgets or similar their you together with the reader build something to illustrate the functionality?

    I sort of like Google Blogger but why I still care I dont know. Cant say I am happy about how Google atleast here in Sweden works. I dont know much information I for example wasted resently because they couldnt give correct information.

    Also more generall i feel that everything Google creates know is either for websites buying adds or web sites promoting very thin information. People like me that creates very high quality uniqe content gets very little support. In that I do not count your search enginee which for example likes a larger net news paper about reserach which I owns large parts of which probably is the most serious and best in that segment in Sweden.

    But we dont get any tools. I have for example requested for years the ability to integrate Analytics and Adsense but I can still dont do it. Having large a net news paper about research it isnt possible to use channels without wasting so much time I cant create new content.

    Seeing that Google Code acctually is one the part of Google that works best in this area maybe you can give Google Blogger and Google Adsense som tips? Or let one of your manager work with them for some time? To give them your know-how?

    Best regards and Good
    Hans

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. I know what you should do. Take Analytics for Blogger out of private beta and make it available for the users.
    I mean you guys already use MeasureMap technology in the new Analytics so why keep the Integrated blogger feature in shadows.

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  6. hi,google teame i wish meriest of christmas to you and your loved ones,i wish you happiness and prosperity in the year ahead ,thankyou google keep agood works wishing you best succes and prosperties and always happy new year be safe by.
    abood

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  7. Hi all!
    I was a J2ME programmer first,then I became a J2EE programmer,and now I want to be a GWT programmer :-)

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  8. Hi Google Team

    http:\\code.google.com Rocks with all nice utilities ...

    looking fwd nice things and Google Developeer Day 2009 :-)

    Thanks
    Gowtham
    http:\\ganesh.gowtham.googlepages.com

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  9. Very Happy new year and awaiting for wonderful products from Google .

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  10. Happy New Year Google... waiting to see great year ahead with you and more innovative things from your Code-lab. :)

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  11. Great stuff!

    If I could have three wishes for next year, I'd first like an overview of the Code Ecology: in other words, how all the elements of Google Code fit together, how they interoperate.

    This might nicely be done in the context of App Engine. I've recently built a GAE project, with Maps, and badly needed a way to not have to use both Python and Javascript. GWT has a solution, as I understand it, by providing a Java->Javascript translation.

    I assumed therefore, that the Code Ecology would somehow help out, letting me use just one language for both the client and server side. Because there was no Here's How Everything Fits Together conversation I could find, I just stumbled on with constant confusion with the two languages.

    I really wouldn't mind doing it all in Python, which I'm finding I like a lot (I'm a retired Sun guy, so Java savvy) .. so a Python -> Javascript solution of some sort (would be way way cool)

    Anyway, and overview of the integration of GWT, GAE, and the whole Ecology would be REALLY WELCOME!

    .. and naturally, thanks for all the great, great work!

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