open social Archive

When I first saw that Google, Myspace, Yahoo, and others were forming the “OpenSocial Foundation,” I almost yelped for joy that someone had finally wised up and decided to create One Social Network to rule them all.  Honestly, there are just too many damn networks to be involved in, much less keep track of, these days.

Unfortunately, the foundation’s main goal is not to consolidate social networks. Rather it is to provide developers with a standard for building applications for use on the different social networks.

Much less exciting, I know.

Nevertheless, it’s still a Good Thing. Open standards are what the internet was founded upon, and it’ll make for a better experience for both developers and users.

Predictably, Facebook is not a part of the initiative, probably because they have the most mature and tenured platform for social networking apps already in full swing.

My first inclination is to draw parallels between the iTunes vs Playsforsure battle of Goliath vs the Davids.  However, this battle may not be a similar debacle, as the battleground is for a development standard and I think the developers themselves hold the final say in determining the victor.

Read More [cnet.com]