Neil McAllister wonders how to explain Microsoft’s obsession with Google, one that runs so deep and dark it would plunk down $44.6 billion to acquire Yahoo. The clue, perhaps, is Google Apps. “Microsoft has been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since Google unveiled Google Docs two years ago, and with the debut of Google App Engine last week, it landed with a thud,” McAllister writes in the new Fatal Exception blog. While Docs cannot really compete with Microsoft Office in most enterprises, there is another area where it can. “Ah, the developers — those developers, developers, developers. Google App Engine is still in testing mode, but when it matures, enterprising programmers will no longer have to settle for whatever applications Google offers up,” McAllister explains. “They’ll be able to start building their own. By making its infrastructure available to third-party developers — including its server farm, storage, and key APIs — Google transforms itself from product to platform.” Software Development