The launch of Google’s App Engine, which allows developers to build a Web application and then host it on Google’s existing infrastructure, is a watershed moment in the software-development industry. The days of building and hosting your own servers, except for specialized applications, are officially over. This is good news. And App Engine will give everyone, including Amazon, a nice scare, which means that these companies will be forced to take a hard look at what they offer today, and what they need to do to improve it.

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