• Fortune, Monday, November 5, 2007 11 AM

Fortune blogger Josh Quittner says it's "inevitable" that Facebook will ditch its proprietary software development platform in favor of OpenSocial, the "Everybody-but-Facebook Alliance" unveiled by Google last week. Sources tell Quittner the two sides are already in discussions, while Facebook board member Jim Breyer on Friday told the Silicon Alley Insider the company would be willing to work with Big G.

Would such a development give Google the upper hand, Quittner asks? Facebook would certainly be thrusting itself into an environment where Google calls the shots. "If I were Facebook, I wouldn't let Google say, 'We are the Web.' I'd call b.s. on them," said Mozilla COO John Lilly. The "b.s." being the notion that OpenSocial is "open" --it's a Google-run initiative. Says Quittner: "True open standards initiatives tend to be run by open boards."

Meanwhile, another tech industry executive who decided to remain anonymous disagreed. He said challenging OpenSocial's openness is "a false challenge," because "interoperability itself will be the glue that keeps [OpenSocial] from becoming proprietary," regardless of who develops and controls the platform. Indeed, controlling the API may be a red herring, but the true power will go to the company whose services become the de facto means of distributing advertising through OpenSocial, which is precisely Google's goal.

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