The key to any successful Web 2.0 deployment is the availability of an open API. It's a key that Google is now giving out for its base -- Google Base that is.

The Google Base Data API is now freely available from Google, allowing third party developers to have applications that can interact with Google Base.

Developers can now programmatically query Google Base content as well as add, insert or delete content. As is the case with Google Maps, which has spawned a cottage industry of third party sites that "mashup" Google content for specific purposes, the availability of the Google Base Data API is likely to end up with its fair share of mashups as well.

Google Base first appeared as a public beta in November of 2005. It had been in a somewhat quiet testing mode since at least a month earlier.

Some have compared it to Craigslist while others have thought of it as potential competition for eBay.

Google Base, though, is neither.

Read more: internetnews.com