Yes or no, it was both a stupid move and in poor taste. Google App Engine requires developers to put a fundamental trust in Google (in a away AWS does not). I

Yes or no, it was both a stupid move and in poor taste. Google App Engine requires developers to put a fundamental trust in Google (in a away AWS does not). It was incredibly stupid of them not so much because they did/did not steal the idea/layout so much as it is about the appearance of stealing it. "Caesar's wife must be above reproach." Intended or not (and I'm sure it wasn't), it sends an implicit signal that Google thinks this platform is best used to make knock-offs of existing products. With a company full of bright engineers (so many, it seems they hardly know what to do with themselves sometimes), they ought to have been able to come up with a slightly more original idea to showcase app engine. Of course, in all likelihood, this product came from the ground up, not from the top down, and for some reason, no manager at Google thought it was going to be a problem.