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Cron job-like functionality could previously be implemented on GAE through a hack. Further reading:

http://groups.google.com/group/httpmr-discuss/browse_thread/...

http://code.google.com/p/gaeutilities/wiki/Cron

http://schedulerservice.appspot.com/

Nevertheless, it's encouraging to see Google officially support what many consider an essential tool in running modern web applications. It's also helpful to have cron integrated with the GAE dashboard, so I can see everything scheduled to run and the result of the last run.

The release came at the perfect time for me, the day after I launched an app that requires regular update tasks to run in the background. It was a boon to simply add a yaml file to my app and not have to hack the functionality in.

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