All you need to join the Google App Engine preview is a Gmail account, a cell phone that can text, and some Python skills I applied for the Google App Engine cloud computing beta a few days after it was announced, way back in April. I was wait-listed. Since then, I’ve discussed a number of other cloud computing options, including Morph, Bungee Connect, Amazon Web Services, LongJump, Caspio, and Microsoft Azure (also here and here). My First Look at Azure came out this Monday.Today I was accepted into the Google App Engine beta, and successfully logged in to appengine.google.com, validated my account with a simple cell-phone text message protocol, and registered an application at mheller01.appspot.com (mheller.appspot.com was taken). I haven’t yet put an application up there; when I do, it will initially require authentication. When I’m ready to open it up to the world for beta testing, I’ll post the information here.I find this timing interesting, although it may not have any significance at all. Maybe it really did take 8 months for my invitation to make it to the top of the application queue. [Update: It looks like all the wait-listed applications have been accepted. In fact, anyone with a Gmail account and a cell phone can join, at code.google.com/appengine. It’s still a preview, however, and free account limits apply.]Now I just have to find my installation of the App Engine SDK and refresh it and/or reinstall the current version, and find some time to work with it. I only vaguely remember the Python architecture of the App Engine, so I’ll also have to find time to refresh my understanding, and either try to remember what I had planned as a test case, or dream up a new one.I’ll put it on my queue. Software DevelopmentTechnology Industry