The importance of Google Dart

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Google is making its Dart system open source.

This is very important, not just for open source.

Dart is a structured language for web programming. That means you can actually build a website as you would write a little Javascript. In fact, Dart can be run on a Java Virtual Machine, or compiled into Javascript.

As I've written here many times, there is no Moore's Law of Software. That is, programming improves arithmetically, while hardware improves geometrically. We have far more in the way of hardware resources than we can possibly use right now, because we can't build stuff fast enough to use them.

Dart isn't a cure for this problem, but it's a help. Having a big company like Google supporting it, pushing it, and teaching it is going to help a lot, too. Learn more about all this at dartlang.org.

But I hear you have a question. Why?

Google remains the cheapest source of Internet infrastructure, period. But lots of companies with very expensive hardware, name brand networking gear and costs out the wazoo are getting into the cloud game because, frankly, it doesn't matter.

There's not enough demand for web stuff to soak up all this abundance, and make costs a gating factor for competition. That's one big reason why Google isn't doing better than it is. Another reason is that Google hasn't tried to monetize its infrastructure, except through advertising.

All this is changing. Slowly.

The success of the iPhone and the Android are the tip of a demand iceberg. That is, they're drawing more bandwidth from the mobile networks than those networks can afford to sell at present prices. So they're raising prices.

I know, and readers of this blog, know this scarcity is artificial. If the current frequencies were pooled, run as a utility, or if you just forced re-sale on the existing carriers, at fair prices, the scarcity would go away. But let that pass.

Cloud technology cuts costs, prices, but raises demand. That is the intention. Over time the scarcity we are now seeing in bandwidth moves to network capacity, moves to Internet stuff itself.

It's at this point that Google starts to look good, not before. So long as a 10x cost advantage over Facebook doesn't matter (because margins are so humongous) Google's advantages are useless. It's only when demand rises that costs matter.

So Google has always had as its second goal (after keeping costs down) increasing demand for Internet stuff. That's why it gives so much stuff away.

As it's giving Dart away. If you reduce the software cost of producing highly functional Web sites, you can increase demand for them.

It's a long game, but that's what Google has been playing all along, a long game. Dart is just one piece of the puzzle.

But it's a nice piece, a free piece. It's a piece you can make money on. Try it and see.

Originally posted on danablankenhorn.com.

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7 Comments

I dont get your article. The cost and demand. Just rewrite it again so dummys like me can understand it.

I don't get this article either. DART is a web programming language. Google makes it money from advertisments. What's the relation, besides the fact that they are both about the web?

I had to read the article twice as well. First off, Dana makes a very good point, and I read a lot on economics.

Second, here is the gist of his article:

At the moment cost does not matter in internet services competition, because demand is not as big as it should be relative to technological resources, i.e. google provides its services much more cheaply than facebook but both make boatloads of money.

Third, now I understand the significance of android. It is a tool to raise the demand for internet services.

Kudos Dana,
very good article

the article is mainly stupid, sorry. that's why some of the comments here had troubles understanding.

when writing about a new programming language, try to stay focused instead of mixing up all kinds of topics.

Nice article. I particularly liked the way the introduction of a new development tool was set in the wider context of Internet business.

I can't follow what you are trying to say.

I also find it hard to understand because you're not on focus. However, I still managed to get your point. You are right, Google never stops to continuously provide its users stuffs that they need and they can get for the cheapest price or for free. Anyway, do you know that Google releases their Transparency Report biannually? (See it here: <a title="Government requests for user data on the rise, says Google" href="http://www.newsytype.com/13147-google-government-data-requests/">Government requests for user data on the rise, says Google</a>) This report details the requests governments make of the company. Google states this report serves two purposes. First, to be as transparent as you can about the inquiries those are and are not fulfilled for and by the government. Second, it is a way to prove that the rules that govern electronic privacy need to be reformed.

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