Google has created an ecosystem while no one was watching that will forever change the dynamic of software development, to the detriment of Microsoft and Apple.

Google is also leveraging a dominant platform (in this case, the Web, the largest platform there is) just as relentlessly as Microsoft and Apple have done, but with an open source philosophy that encourages others to compete.

Read more about it at:

http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10003668/how-googles-ecosystem-changes-everything/

The ecosystem that Google is creating includes a number of succinct parts, but they have to be understood in the context of Google’s overall strategy, which is quite simply to encourage end users to spend as much time online as possible.