Yahoo! announced yesterday that it supports Google?s application development initiative
OpenSocial, and that together along with social networking site MySpace they will form the
OpenSocial Foundation.
On a telephone conference call that was held yesterday, when asked why the Foundation was formed with
Yahoo! over an existing OpenSocial partner such as
Bebo (
now owned by AOL) or
Hi5, both of whom joined OpenSocial at launch, Joe Kraus director of
product management from Google answered that the announcement was for the plans to form a foundation, rather than the actual launch of one - which puts the press release at odds with that was discussed during the conference call . Kraus said they expected the Foundation to be fully formed within 90 days, and that all existing partners would contribute to the build and continued growth.
The announcement comes at a time of uncertainty for the future of Yahoo! Less than two months ago Microsoft made an unsuccessful bid to acquire Yahoo! which was quickly followed with
talks of acquisition by Rupert Murdoch?s News Corporation and AOL mergers.
The OpenSocial Foundation is a group initiative the three hope will create a ?safe harbour? for developers to build social applications under a community-governed standard. Kraus said, ?if you want to go fast, go solo. If you want to go far, go together. This is what OpenSocial is all about.?
Although Yahoo! did not provide details on how they would be employing OpenSocial themselves, Wade Chambers, vice president of Yahoo! Platforms said they had been watching OpenSocial carefully since its inception, and saw that it was an important development.
?Yahoo! believes in supporting community-driven industry specifications and expects that OpenSocial will fuel innovation and make the web more relevant and more enjoyable to millions of users. Our support builds on similar efforts with the OpenID community and will expand the opportunity for developers and publishers to benefit from an open and increasingly social web,? said Chambers.
As founding members of the Foundation,
Google,
MySpace and Yahoo! will initiate the set up of the non-profit entity, which will be complete with formal intellectual property and a governance framework. From 01 July 2008, all OpenSocial documentation, assets and trademarks will be transferred from Google to Foundation.
MySpace senior vice president of product strategy, Steve Pearman said that the new OpenSocial community will set industry standard when it comes to developing applications for social networks and online communities. Pearman commented that the addition of Yahoo! to the OpenSocial umbrella was important, which would allow them to ?work together to provide developers with the tools to make the Internet move faster and to foster more innovation and creativity.?
Although OpenSocial has many partners, it currently can only be seen on two social networking sites, Google owned
Orkut and MySpace. OpenSocial applications will go live on social network Hi5 on Tuesday 01 April 2008. OpenSocial currently has over two million users.
?OpenSocial has been a community-driven specification from the beginning. The formation of this foundation will ensure that it remains so in perpetuity. Developers and websites should feel secure that OpenSocial will be forever free and open,? concluded Google?s Kraus.