Independent software developers are Google's eager new soldiers, just as Google had hoped.

It appears Google got what it wanted in August after first letting developers graft their features onto Google's online goods. There are now hundreds tinkering away, according to various estimates.

Some developers take Google's mapping and directions facets to new places for both amusement (one developer shot a movie using Google Maps) and profit, as the growing coterie of eBay fanatics demonstrates.

And, as Google hoped, they are also coming up with features Google desperately needs, but can't seem to produce.

For example, Google has been tinkering with a day planner for months. It needs one to battle major business foes including Microsoft.

On March 3, it got scooped by oCalendar, which piggybacks Microsoft's calendar feature onto Google's Sidebar desktop search engine.

Read more here about Google's calendar, and the clues it keeps dropping.

"oCalendar is just small piece of software in order to improve your daily life," developer Ilya Solnyshkin wrote in an e-mail to eWEEK. "If it works for me, why not share it with other people?"

Google hasn't indicated the size of its active developer community, an important measure of its success. But there seems to be hundreds, judging by the numbers of developers downloading the necessary software tools at popular online buffets and by the spread of innovations found at the Google Desktop page as well as through a program Google runs for eBay developers.

The developers are producing hundreds, if not thousands of applications, judging various online sources.

While these numbers are decent, they pale in comparison to developers working with some of Google's major rivals.

But Google still benefits because it is a much cheaper alternative than doing the work themselves, and to some extent provides for a limitless number of ideas to spring up.

There's a downside to relying on outsiders, though. The programming won't be as good as it could be. That's by virtue of how little source code Google lets outsiders work with.

Plus, by doing most of the work, developers will take more of the revenues if, and when, Google begins selling features. Right now, all these so-called plug-ins are free.

"We [ensure that] the developer community can develop things they want that we might not have imagined," a Google spokesperson wrote after an inquiry by eWEEK.

"No software company would ever be able to think of or develop every single thing that every user could ever hope for."

Read more here about how Google's balance sheet, not its success, dominated its recent analyst day.

This examination of Google's developers was sparked by recent questions concerning Google's future growth.

Google's had some hard times lately. After a disappointing financial quarter, Google Chief Financial Officer George Reyes predicted days to come when Google's growth would slow down due to "the law of gravity."

Then came Google's Analyst Day event, a sobering affair in which Google's leadership said features, free or otherwise, will play a big role in Google's hunt for new revenue sources.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to include comment from a Google representative.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.