In the last one year we saw both the high-tech companies (Microsoft & Google) releasing their versions of mashup editors to help us create web 2.0 applications without having to write even a single line of code. Today I review both of these services to actually see which of one these 2 services has the edge over one another?

Microsoft Popfly

Popfly is Microsoft’s version of a mashup editor. It’s built using Microsoft Silverlight platform which gives it all that slick look and ease of use. Using Popfly, we can create online mashups easily by using what they call as "Blocks". There are many blocks already available to provide data from different web services like Facebook, Wikipedia, Digg, MySpace, Flickr etc. We can also create gadgets easily by just dragging and dropping that works both on Windows Vista and Windows Live. 

Popfly also enables us to create games without even having to write a single line of code. These games works also on Xbox Live.

Popfly is designed in such a way that it’s very easy to jump in and design a simple application even if you don’t have any coding experience.

Pros:

1. Simple & easy to use.
2. Eye-candy interface.
3. Enables us to create games on the fly.

Cons:

1. Not as customizable as Google’s Mashup Editor.

Google Mashup Editor

Google Mashup Editor is targeted towards more advanced developers. What this means is that it takes more technical approach than Popfly, hence only appealing to real hard coders.
This technical and not so easy approach is going to limit Google’s service to very limited user base but it surely has great appeal for those who really want to have freedom of having to code everything down.

The service enables us to create mashups using CSS, JavaScript, HTML and some special XML tags.

Pros:

1. Its advanced and technical nature allows us with much more customization.

Cons:

1. Too complicated for those with limited knowledge of development.
2. Interface - Not as easy to use as Popfly.
3. The service is still in private testing phase.

Conclusion

After having played with both the services, I came to the conclusion that for average Joe, Popfly is by far the best choice for creating mashups whether it be for creating websites, gadgets or for games.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)