Google and Capillary Action
July 2, 2008
I think it was Dr. Snow’s Biology 101 class in 1962 when I had to perform an experiment related to capillary action. Capillary action, as I recall, the ability of a substance to draw another substance into it. My experiment involved a beaker of some foul smelling substance, a chunk of a mop, and a scale. I had to calculate how quickly the stinky stuff moved from the beaker into the mop. I did the experiment, got an A, and continued through life indifferent to this fundamental physical principle so essential to life.
InfoWorld, a great online publication compared to its last days as a failing print publication, has an important essay “Can Google Apps Move Up Market?” The author is Tom Kaneshige, and he does a good job of explaining that Google Apps, while not quite toy applications, are likely to face some resistance in organizations. The most important observation in his write up for me was:
Although Google Apps may carve out niches, it’s unlikely that basic applications in the cloud will play a major role in the way giants of industry conduct business. Imagine sensitive business documents being shared in the cloud without comprehensive enterprise controls. Not only is Google Apps not ready … companies aren’t either.
I don’t want to dispute the InfoWorld essay. I agree with most of its points.
However, I think one important observation may be germane. Google is working like a little beaver to get developers to create software for Google. Google is dating Salesforce.com. There’s the Android initiative. There’s the Google partner ecosystem cranking out scripts via the OneBox API. There’s the mapping crowd extending Google’s ubiquitous geospatial footprint. Developers are a longer term investment, but over a two or three year span, Google’s jejune developer program will have an impact.
Also, Google, as you probably are aware, is chomping on the wooden doors at colleges and universities. I am surprised when I meet a person from Arizona State University who said to me in April 2008, “Google is all over the campus. It’s Gmail. It’s Google Calendar. It’s all Google all the time.” ASU is not alone. The GOOG has its snout into more than 300 major academic institutions. One deal is for 1.5 million students someplace in Australia that I wrote about here.
Google’s approach to the enterprise is a variant of capillary action. As these seemingly uncoordinated activities take place, time–not technology or aggressive salesmanship–will deliver for Google. Google is betting that as its most avid developers mature and its college users enter the work force, these folks will pull Google along. Why beat your head against a concrete wall as Mr. Ballmer did in one of his famous motivational presentations? Why not let capillary action pull Google Apps, the Google Search Appliance, and Google data management services into organizations. It’s easier and doesn’t create YouTube.com video moments.
Stephen Arnold, July 2, 2008
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