Jim (and Andrew) --<br><br>Thanks for the clarification. This is very interesting news indeed!<br><br>In current form, GAE would not be suitable for an ILS like Koha (even if we magically ported it to python), because of limitations on the data structure. Specifically, "Note that the App Engine datastore is not a relational database":<br>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/whatisgoogleappengine.html">http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/whatisgoogleappengine.html</a><br></div><br>It may be possible to reimagine MARC, circ, holding and patron data under the "datastore" model, but this seems like a serious impediment for now. I suspect Google will expand the breadth of service options once the basic Engine is established and popularized, so maybe mysql will become available later (perhaps w/ additional cost). <br>
<br>A "Google App Engine" based ILS probably would require a distinct project and developer community. I actually think a pure python port of Koha would be virtually impossible to achieve, based on the large number of underlying dependencies that would also have to be ported. It would take so long to accomplish that it would not be valuable (let alone current) by the time it was finished. So we'll see what it looks like when they decide to support perl!<br>
<br>--joe<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 9:56 AM, James Weinheimer <<a href="mailto:j.weinheimer@aur.edu">j.weinheimer@aur.edu</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<p><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Sorry I wasn't specfic enough. I was
thinking of the Google App Engine hosting project that they have just
initiated. Andrew Seguin corrected this for me. Thanks.</span></font></p>
<p><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">It could be interesting. Currently, they
say everything must be written in Python but that they will add other languges
as well. </span></font></p>
<p><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy;">Jim</span></font></p>
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<p><font color="navy" face="Verdana" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; color: navy;">James Weinheimer <a href="mailto:j.weinheimer@aur.edu" target="_blank">j.weinheimer@aur.edu</a><br>Director of Library and Information
Services<br>The American University of Rome<br>via Pietro Roselli, 4<br>00153 Rome, Italy<br>voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 327<br>fax-011 39 06 58330992</span></font></p>
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<p><b><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma; font-weight: bold;">From:</span></font></b><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma;"> Joe Atzberger
[mailto:<a href="mailto:ohiocore@gmail.com" target="_blank">ohiocore@gmail.com</a>] <br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, April 09, 2008
3:45 PM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> <a href="mailto:j.weinheimer@aur.edu" target="_blank">j.weinheimer@aur.edu</a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> <a href="mailto:koha@lists.katipo.co.nz" target="_blank">koha@lists.katipo.co.nz</a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Koha] Google Apps</span></font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jim --<br>
<br>
As one who has been using Google Apps for several years, including company-wide
at LibLime, I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. You seem to
be thinking of Google hosting Koha as an application. Yours is, as far as
I know, the first such suggestion. In fact, I don't know of Google
hosting any software that wasn't produced in house.<br>
<br>
There are several areas of development at Google relevant to libraries,
foremost the new Google Book Services featuring an incredibly broad catalog of
scanned book images, including covers and searchable OCR text. Some Koha
users have made use of this content already. Other coders have integrated
Google Calendar widgets into their OPAC for displaying scheduled library
events. But these are far removed from running an actual ILS. <br>
<br>
I too would love for the ILS's (and most other services) that I admin to be
hosted on Google's massive data grid, but I don't foresee that happening in the
next decade... at which point Koha server should be running on my cellphone. :)<br>
<br>
--Joe Atzberger</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 3:37 AM, Weinheimer Jim <<a href="mailto:j.weinheimer@aur.edu" target="_blank">j.weinheimer@aur.edu</a>> wrote:</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All,<br>
<br>
Now that Google Apps has appeared (just!), does anybody see any Koha-type
applications? Right now, everything on Google Apps must be in python, but could
local libraries run their Koha catalogs on Google, thereby saving themselves a
lot of bother?<br>
<br>
James Weinheimer<br>
The American University of Rome</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha" target="_blank"></a></span></font></p>
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