Go - the newest programming language from Google! What's next?

After entering a partnership with Verizon last month, and after launching the newest Android 2.0 smartphone (I am talking about Motorola Droid, of course) on November 6, only four days later (on November 10) Google has released Go: its first programming language. This is what I call to be as busy as a bee!

I suppose it was only a matter of time until Google went to conquer the software development industry as well, after creating its own mobile operating system – Android, and after entering the smartphone market. The two year development process resulted in Go: a free, open-source language, which wants to be an alternative to C++ by combining the performance and security of the C++ language with the development speed of Python.

If you wonder (I know I did) what made Google want to develop its own language and why didn't it just add new features to already existing languages - the answer, in my opinion, is more than simple. If you have the resources to develop a new programming language, and if your name is Google – a giant which depends mostly on C++, why not develop an in-house language which has great chances to become popular?

Although it is said to be experimental, and not yet ready to be adopted "in production environments", Go is the first major system programming language to appear for over a decade (after D was launched in 1999), time in which technology and the needs of the users have advanced a lot.

If I've opened your appetite, you need to know that Go has its own website: Golang.org, where you can find more technicalities, tutorials and even videos to get started.

And if you wonder who or what is the little creature on the right, I have to tell you that it is "Gordon – the gopher", and you are going to see plenty of it because it's Go's official mascot. (P.S. Doesn't it remind you of a character from Ice Age? Don't hesitate to leave comments if you have any other suggestion.)

So, after Android, a lot of mobile devices, and a new programming language, I can't help but wonder: what's next Google? Certainly there's going to be an open-source operating system - Google Chrome OS - in the second half of 2010, and maybe a "pure branded" smartphone?... Did anyone hear more?