ReadWriteWeb´s Josh Catone posted about HuddleChat, the App used by Google to Demo their App Engine, and found a strikingly resemblance with 37Signals Campfire and discovered some good tidbits from that resemblance because 37 Signals Jason Fried stated:

“We’re flattered Google thinks Campfire is a great product, we’re just disappointed that they stooped so low to basically copy it feature for feature, layout for layout,”

And he would be right just judging from the screenshot:

I mean, this is Google, ok, that is already shielded because the HudleChat app was developed apart from Google ties eve if done by Googlers. but it is pretty obvious it is a complete rip off. if this guys are from Google and where building this to Demo Google App Engine and were indeed producing a Copy of Campfire why the din´t:

1. Changed the orientation of the layout?
2. Change the measures of the design so it don´t looks the same?
3. Change the look so it looked more separated from the source?

Those are 3 very simple things they could have done to avoid claims of rip off. but they didn´t. one would blame the Googlers that did this because after all Google denied connection to this. but then there is the background behind campfire as written by Josh Catone:

“Another interesting wrinkle to this story: 37Signals is supported by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who invested in the company in July 2006, and the Chicago-based company’s web apps all run on Amazon’s web services platform, a competitor in many respects to Google App Engine. Could it be that Google purposely chose to clone one of Amazon web services’ greatest success story specifically to show off the power for their new platform? Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that Google unveiled App Engine at an event it called Campfire …”

Then it don´t seems like a coincidence, does it?. the most incredible part is the pro google sentiments of own ReadWriteWeb commenters in that post where they blast against 37 signals and supporting Google.

Need to be read to be believed

Another rare moment in Google App Engine debut is that we have underestimated TechCrunch traffic power or there is something fishy on the supposed limits of the App Engine because Techcurnch very simple app went down too fast to be true. i just don´t buy this..

And it was true, the error message is used for any kind of outage because Google App Engine also showed the same error when it got down. so much for unlimited scalability indeed..

Google App Engine is out and the premise is clear: Google against Amazon and Google getting ready to battle Microsoft when the latter decides to enter into the game.

The Google App Engine has been seen in the same way Blogger was when introduced previously to Google buyout: The Easiest Solution and for the masses.  the question is if it works as it should?

It does but there is doubt if it can really be used to host big projects. and if big projects will be using it since unlike Amazon web services. you choose a whole predefined package and not only the parts you only need like in Amazon web services where you chose from 3 parts, being able to use just one or all 3.

The Promises of Google are:

“Leveraging Google App Engine, developers can:

• Write code once and deploy. Provisioning and configuring multiple machines for web serving and data storage can be expensive and time consuming. Google App Engine makes it easier to deploy web applications by dynamically providing computing resources as they are needed. Developers write the code, and Google App Engine takes care of the rest.
• Absorb spikes in traffic. When a web app surges in popularity, the sudden increase in traffic can be overwhelming for applications of all sizes, from startups to large companies that find themselves rearchitecting their databases and entire systems several times a year. With automatic replication and load balancing, Google App Engine makes it easier to scale from one user to one million by taking advantage of Bigtable and other components of Google’s scalable infrastructure.
• Easily integrate with other Google services. It’s unnecessary and inefficient for developers to write components like authentication and e-mail from scratch for each new application. Developers using Google App Engine can make use of built-in components and Google’s broader library of APIs that provide plug-and-play functionality for simple but important features. “

And the set of features is described as:

But as with everything Google, where all is half truth and half reality, the initial limitations are severe and cannot give a exact projection on when we will see the full service running as it was envisionaed and much less if it will run in such a way.

Via Google App Engine Blog and Techcrunch

Facebook chat is already in use and in a deployment cycle. that leaves room to ask if previous Facebook chat and im solutions shoud just give up or if that dont even matters because they are as good as dead already?.

 What Facebook IM solutions?

Social.im

Social.im only goal was to provide the best Facebook IM client possible. such ambition was received with lot of free hype from large blogs and quite a pampering welcome by lots of Facebook users interested in speeding up the social interaction inside Facebook.

So far the client has shown to be good but nothing spectacular. there were rumors of it getting acquired to be integrated into the team working on the offical Facebook Chat.

While denied by Social.Im. the tone used to deny and some “playing dumb” innuendos could mean they did got acquired. something that should get cleared when facebook chat finally launches.

If they did not got acquired, then i must say it is pretty much game over for them, social.im never got pass Alpha, only had one focus. but that don`t means they could transform it into something else given the linage of the founders and the investors backing up social.im. same reason to believe they got acquired.

Social.im

Imo.Im

A small meebo competitor who provides a light wieight web IM client that reminds of the old Ebuddy and that now counts with a also light weight .net based desktop version.

They released a app to talk using imo.im but is pretty sure they will just scrape it and wait for a way to tap into the official chat and add support later.

The outcome for them cannot be estimated since they are two small of a competitor to have a crash and they could go any direction.

Imo.Im

Mosoto

Mosoto is another Meebo competitor with a twist, it also serves as social webtop. something that could be compared to Wixi. so they are part Wixi and part Meebo.

They do provide a Facebook IM solution but their focus is not just that and have gone for the social webtop angle. they provide a music player that can tap into box.net to serve your music. that integration also allows for file sharing and video sharing.

The product is dissapointing, it got a so-so chat experience and a so-so webtop experience. their mixed nature gets in the way and shows as the greatest fault because you cannot get a excelent expirience in either focus of the service.

The worst is that Mosoto continues to be a alpha product and web only. something that is not enough to compell anyone to exchange Meebo for Mosoto. much less because it has not properly launched.

The outcome is bleak, they should change or re-think their product.

Mosoto

Babuki

Babuki is the latest application to offer Facebook IM support but it also a full Desktop/Web(Flex)/FB8 App im client. so you can use it in 3 ways and in Mac or PC thanks to Adobe AIR. Babuki offers a Adobe AIR client that is very polished. all shows the greatest IM and Social Chat solutions, because it offers MySpace IM chat, a LiveJournal IM chat, a Facebook Chat and even supports their direct competition by offering Social.Im support. Something that should be seen as incredible.

And that is not all, they also offer two other advanced facebook Apps to complement their service and if you use Babuki, you can also send free sms to your contacts if supported.

Babuki, unlike the other services don`t goes for the “me too” route and improves over what meebo has, meebo up to this day don`t has a desktop client yet, much less one as good as the one shown by Babuki.

The outcome to Babuki should be good Facebook chat or not because of their wide offerings and thanks that they don`t depend all on Facebook.

I choose Babuki as the only compelling IM solution offering a better facebook chat than facebook own solution and one that can survive while they find a way to integrate the FB chat into Babuki.

Babuki

Those are the choices if you still don`t have Facebook chat and you find yourself impacient.

The Facebook chat roll out is happening faster than anticipated spreading over networks, the first networkk to have Facebook chat supported was of course Mark Zuckerberg old college. that little university called Hardvard, from there, the facebook chat followed activation in the main Universites netowrks, like standford, yale, princeston and so on. this kind of path of deployment reveal a interesting doubt. Does Facebook got a logged path on how it grew from zero and when deploying it follows the same route but in a way faster movement?. given the reports on how the Facebook chat activated, the answer may be yes.

CNET web 2.0 focused blog, webware got a Hands-On post explaining briefly what could be read in pieces all around and provides a good way to undertand how it works.

I certainly must Applaud the way the integrated the chat by using the status bar as the way to dock the chat window dialogue, a simple but efective way to riff but put their on spin on what can be experienced with Google Gmail Gchat. it also pop ups a window to follow the conversation if what you are interested is talking. the window display it is indeed the standar fare of a chat board  mixed with a IM client.

At this rate of deployment, Facebook Chat should be completely released by mid-april if fast or by the end of the month if they decide to go slow. more details as they come.