Microsoft is playing a brilliant Internet strategy. Absolutely brilliant if the rumors are correct. - Robert Scoble
"the web is in peril"? Are you kidding? The web is bigger than facebook and all that social stuff. Additionally, there is no reason to believe MS wont open Facebook data up to portability - it might be a Live API but it will be open. OpenSocial was a lame API anyway. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
Brilliant stuff from Microsoft! This will open up a whole new conversation - Jorg Jansen
makes a lot of sense AND totally insane at the same time. Facebook for $20B, big difference to invest at 15B valuation but to buy it all together at that level? - Lou Paglia
Since when did Google become the reigning king of Openness ? - Murali
Google is far from open. They share what suits them, and locks in as much as they can. Google is not special. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
Google spiders the open Web. It's synonymous with the open web. Facebook has everything behind a wall. You'll see the dangers of that the minute you get kicked off like @irinaslutsky was. Already Facebook is already the largest repository of photos. Locked out. Largest repository of videos. Locked out. Largest event listing. Locked out. I'm getting tons of comments and messages in Facebook. Locked out. And Facebook has quite an interesting search and application platform. Locked out. - Robert Scoble
Soulthuntre: when it comes to search Google is VERY open. I don't get what you think they do that's closed. - Robert Scoble
Not that I'm a huge fan of Facebook to begin with, but I understand it's reach. I have a lot of friends using it as a primary form of communication (instead of evite or email). It's a bit irritating that I have to rely on logging in, or getting direct messages instead of leveraging a social media aggregater. I just started w/ friendfeed thanks to your reviews. - Melinda
i'm sorry, i'm terribly tired. i just had an image of Robert Scoble as Paul Revere. i need more sleep in my life. the web is in peril! the British are coming! i'm taking a nap before work. appy polly loggies. - hisherness
Search is not "open" any more than it needs to be. Is there any real transparency on the algorithm? No. Is there any real feedback to webmasters? No. IS there any real support for webmasters to correct mistakes or cache errors? No. Google search isn;t really "open" - it is jsut publically acessible. But the core data that represents the real value of that search engine is not Google. They give away surface data but pull the real critical stuff for themselves. Thats OK, but don;t make them seem like they are altruistic. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
Al long as they don't mess with it and rename it to MS LiveBook or something like that - Denis
Soulhuntre: I'm not talking about the code Google uses to search. I'm talking about what it chooses to search. It only searches stuff that's open to the Web. If you put a "nofollow" link in, it won't search there. - Robert Scoble
My point is that you see it as "open", but in fact there is a huge pool of data there that Google keeps to itself. Not the code, just plain data. I don;t mind... but they are not the paragon of open-ness. The web is fluid... if MS ruins facebook peopel will move. Just like Myspace faded away, jsut like Yahoo did, just like AOL did. It's the panic level I don't understand. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
Thanks for this Robert, very interesting development.... at the end of the day I think friendfeed will be a winner, because it has some many things Facebook doesn't have - Lasse
M$ needs to re-invent itself badly, so the Facebook and/or the Yahoo! Search purchases will be very important in defining M$ future. The Facebook deal would give M$ a strong leap forward in the Social Media space, where they have zero market presence, impact or control.
However, these possible deals would spell trouble for everybody that cares at all about privacy on the web. I suppose Social Media sites by nature are more “open” and “social”, but the mere thought of M$ buying Facebook makes me very nervous as an end-user. Same goes for M$ buying Yahoo Search. I’ve lost trust in M$, so these possible acquisitions are making the hair on my neck stand up and freak out!
The revenue potential for M$ is incredibl provacative, so they must be compelled to make a sizeable purchase of either or both Facebook or Yahoo! Search. Personally, if I was M$, I’d buy BOTH asap. my 2 cents! - Susan Beebe
re: getting kicked off Facebook - their algorithm will be tweaked further and less people will get kicked off for no apparent reason. - Mo Jawhari
Surely by closing off the rest of the internet they are closing out potential customers, and not closing in current ones. This business model only works if the content is on Facebook, and it just isn't these days. The content providers are elsewhere...like here. - Chris Nixon
