What the platforms are.
WHAT THE MAJOR AREAS ARE
Google Cloud, for infrastructure and platform services Firebase, for application backends Google Workspace, for productivity and its development platform Android, for mobile Flutter, for cross-platform applications Machine learning tooling, principally TensorFlow Chrome, and its extension and developer platforms A large catalogue of APIs, including Maps
WHAT CONNECTS THEM
A common project and identity model, and a common console for most services.
WHAT A PROJECT IS
The organising container for resources, APIs, credentials and billing.
WHY THAT MATTERS MOST
Almost everything is scoped to a project, and getting the project structure wrong causes problems that are painful to unwind.
WHAT THE COMMERCIAL MODEL IS
Consumption billing for most services, with free allowances on many.
WHAT THAT MEANS
Cost follows usage, and a mistake can be expensive quickly.
WHAT MATTERS LOCALLY
Billing is in foreign currency, so cost moves with the exchange rate independently of usage.
WHAT TO SET UP BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE
Billing alerts and budgets.
