Open Internet spotlighted at Google's Developer Day

Google shone a spotlight on open standards and open source development at its Developer Day in Sydney today.

The event, which took place at Wharf 8, brought together more than 650 Web developers from all around Australia.

“Developer Day 2008 has showcased the tremendous potential for Australia and Australian developers,” said Alan Noble, Google's Head of Engineering for Australia and New Zealand, in a statement.

“Developers and Googlers took hold of the notion that the web itself is truly the platform of the future: an open playing field where anyone can build innovative applications,” he said.

Showcased at the event was a host of Google’s developer products, including the OpenSocial API (application programming interface) for the development of social applications, and Google’s open mobile platform, the Android SDK.

Also discussed were tools such as Google Earth API, YouTube API, Flash Maps API, Gears, Mapplets, Google Web Toolkit and Google App Engine.

“The web is based on open standards and open source software, and no single company controls it,” said Tom Stocky, Google’s director of product management in a keynote address.

“Instead of targeting proprietary platforms, developers can target the client they can be sure every user has -- the web browser.”

“It's when you take all of our contributions in aggregate that we're able to move the web forward as a platform,” he said.