Google caught plagiarizing? (and 50 of the best)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Google does an embarrassing volte-face on an App Engine app. Not to mention the 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time...

Heather Harreld Havenstein goes all alliterative on us: [Get a room -Ed.]

Just a day after launching a preview version of its new Google App Engine, Google Inc. yesterday yanked one of the development product's demo applications after a blogosphere brouhaha erupted over its origin. The move came after bloggers contended that the real-time chat demo application for Google App Engine, called HuddleChat, was a copy of the Campfire real-time chat application from 37Signals LLC. more

Jack Schofield sucks, contemplatively, on his pipe:

Basically, Google had an event called Campfire, where it showed a demo group chat application called HuddleChat. Some bloggers called this a rip-off of a 37Signals group chat program called Campfire: the two look pretty much the same ... Google responded quickly by taking HuddleChat down ... Others pointed out that there was already a collaborative Huddle application from a startup based in London, England. Google's defenders argue that there are only so many ways to do group chat, and that it's not a new idea anyway. People doing similar research in similar places are likely to come up with similar results ... I don't think ... Huddle's Andy McLoughlin ... will be crying himself to sleep tonight. Google's gaffes have given Campfire and Huddle a ton of free publicity that would be hard to match any other way. more

It's Peter Kafka, Esq.: [You're fired -Ed.]

Tempest in a teapot? Sure. But that's the Web. And more than most everything else Google does, this was a product launched aimed at the Web's most hardcore users. The old Google might have stubbornly refused to accept the criticism, and dug in its heels. And that's what the company's PR staff did initially ... But by Tuesday night, somebody at Google had come to their senses, and Huddle Chat was gone. more

Yes, Google's Pete Koomen grovels:

We've now taken HuddleChat down from the App Engine app gallery. The App Engine team was looking for some sample apps to help kick the tires on their new system, so we invited Googlers to build some as side projects. A couple of our colleagues here built HuddleChat in their spare time because they wanted to share work within their team more easily and thought persistent web chat would do the trick. We've heard some complaints from the developer community, though, so rather than divert attention from Google App Engine itself, we thought it better to just take HuddleChat down. more

Brad Linder said it bore a striking resemblance:

The main difference was that Campfire used a freemium model (free for up to 4 users, fee for more users), while HuddleChat was completely free. Now, technically, there's nothing wrong with developing an application that looks and feels a lot like a competing application. After all, is it surprising that two web-based multi-user chat rooms are going to look a lot alike? ... It all seems rather obvious. But while Google App Engine is open to anybody (or at least the first 10,000 users to sign up during the beta), HuddleChat was actually written by two Google employees during their free time. And that made it hard to see as anything other than a direct strike at 37signals' Campfire. It sort of screamed "Hey, we like your product, now we're going to clone it, make it free, and drive you out of business!". more

Zed Shaw is so ****ing awsome:

Well, silly boys and girls, rails-core ripped off the idea and probably most of the workings for Campfire from NextApp Echo2 ChatClient Demo. I know this because I was in the rails-core IRC channel and I showed them how cool this Echo2 framework was, including that chat demo. A few weeks later they had Campfire and since they say it took them two weeks to write it, I’m guessing they got lots of inspiration. Sure, they probably won’t admit that, since they’re “innovators” you know, but it’s a really odd coincidence. Who knows, maybe they were working on Campfire all along and they just used their psionic telepathy to will that I go find the Echo2 Chat demo and paste it into their IRC. Or, maybe I just remember it differently, who knows. My brain don’t work that well anyway. more

This Anonymous Coward agrees:

37Signals should learn to innovate, not whine ... If you want it make it big by offering minimalism don't be surprised when someone does exactly the same thing. The 37 Signals developers and DHH should be ashamed of themselves for claiming huddlechat is a rip off, it is an obvious idea and plenty of other websites had implemented similar chat system BEFORE campfire ever came around. It is funny how a company who sells a book on design philsophy complains when someone else uses that philosophy. If you deliberately make featureless software don't be surprised when people "copy" it, even as a tech demo. more

And MozeeToby shrugs:

I think they pulled the app mostly for PR reasons; not that the app generated tons of bad PR but that it was distracting people from what google wanted them talking about. Rather than argue about their right to have the app, they simply pulled it so people wouldn't be able to argue about it on the blogosphere. more

At which, kingcool1432 scoffs:

Front page on Slashdot. Wow, they sure dodged that bullet. more

And finally...

• The 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time [hat tip: Boing Boing]

Buffer overflow:

• Richi Jennings: BorderWare claim: Amazing Reputation Filtering
• Duncan Riley: Computerworld Late To April Fools
• Data Center Knowledge: Red Dog: Microsoft's Developer Cloud Platform
• Pamela Jones: In re Bilski -- Red Hat files amicus brief saying software patents are a brake on innovation
• Michelle Dively : Open Source Goes to Wall Street
• Stacey Higginbotham: Can Ultraportables Grow Ultrafast?
• Ed Bott: When will Windows 7 ship?
• Caroline Craig: High marks for U.S. Internet
• StorageMojo: SNW update - Xiotech’s ISE and the dilithium solution
• Mike Masnick: H-1Bs Run Out Almost Immediately Yet Again
• Nate Anderson: US is #4 on Network Readiness Index—despite broadband woes

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Preston Gralla: It's time for Microsoft to give up on the Yahoo deal
• Scott McPherson: For hurricanes and pandemics, plan one category higher
• Mike Elgan: Best 'cybercafe' in London: a grocery store?
• Robert L. Mitchell: Boycott! Amazon insurgency spreads to UK
• Mark Hall: Monitor VM apps
• Seth Weintraub: 3G iPhone guts discovered
• Douglas Schweitzer: Should we look up to our Big Brothers?
• Shark Tank: Nothing special - just a basic project
• Shark Bait: It's all subjective

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Google App Engine firing on all cylinders (and badtats)
• Yahoo vs. Microsoft... FIGHT! (and alt.lost)
• Modular Windows 7 in 2009? Well... (and Q&A)