Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!

This is really huge.

Those of you who aren’t tech geeks like me might not know of this. Google is spearheading a platform named OpenSocial, to challenge Facebook. Essentially it is the same thing as Facebook’s developer platform, except that the applications are developed using standard languages like HTML and Javascript (as opposed to Facebook’s proprietary languages) and can be run in any network which supports OpenSocial (as opposed to just running on Facebook).

The official announcement was made today (over the night in Singapore). Google have got the support of networks such as Friendster, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning, Hi5. And application makers such as Slide, RockYou, iLike and Flixster.

The latest, and biggest, news (a few hours ago): MySpace has joined OpenSocial. I think this is a really huge announcement. MySpace, the biggest network, has teamed up with Google on this. I really hope it will be a success.

What does this mean? Developers only need to create one application, for use everywhere (or maybe a second one for Facebook). End users will now have more applications available. Networks get more exposure.

Opening up the platform can only be good for everyone (other than Facebook, probably).