There has been a great deal of excitement around the fact that MySpace and Friendster would be going open source. This follows the rush for social networks such as LinkedIn, hi5, Bebo, and Facebook to go open source begun by Linden Labs' announcement that Second Life would open it's platform to developers. Google even has several open source projects in the works including the rumored gPhone.
Open source simply means that software code is released to the general public in order to promote development by third parties. Widgets are a great example of how third parties have benefited from open source on Facebook and arguably how Facebook has been able to show such phenomenal growth. Most companies, once they develop their product, need to spend a good portion of their time dealing with bugs and cracks or on the development of the next version of their platform. They very rarely have the time or resources to develop additional features. That's where third parties come in handy. Outside developers can spend their time creating new widgets and mini-programs for the platform without effecting the original development team.
Many companies would shun open source, preferring to keep their code to themselves rather than take a chance that anyone else would make money from their product. Unfortunately, not only does this cause developmental stagnation but it also reduces the amount of buzz generated for their product. For months after the iPhone was released the buzz was kept alive by developers trying to hack into the system to take advantage of the power of the device through additional tools that for one reason or another Apple did not include with it. A great example is the buzz about GPS. As if having a bunch of your favorite songs, your cell phone, web browsing, email. weather, stocks and video in one device wasn't enough, users desperately wanted a mobile GPS built in. When the specs of the phone were announced, Apple declared the device to be unable to support GPS. That bared out once the iPhone was released. It took about one month before several groups found hacks easy enough even for yours truly to customize his iPhone. The first thing I did was track down a GPS program that worked fabulously. I also loaded Nintendo games and an Etch A Sketch onto it. Of course, as everyone found, with the latest software update we lost all of our cool features.
This incurred the wrath of developers and users alike. Apple has since stated that they are releasing code to developers to create third party applications. Looks like I'll have my GPS back soon!
This kind of attitude has served Facebook well. The original version was a very lame step-sister to MySpace, allowing limited personalization. Once they opened their source code, all kinds of fun gizmos popped up such as badges, streaming audio players, games, video players, picture shows, calendars, weather and all sorts of fun and helpful applications. This made Facebook much more attractive to users.
I've been talking with folks at MySpace lately who are very excited about going open source which will allow not only regular users and groups but also companies to do alot more with their personal pages.
What is most interesting to me is a recent Fortune article by Lindsay Blakely. She was talking about the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association conference in San Francisco and 23 year-old Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz opening remarks. Moskovitz was there to announce that Facebook features to Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry smartphones. While talking before a room full of telecom execs he chided wireless providers for keeping their platforms closed. He said that open mobile platforms were the future and that companies such as Apple and Google will continue to take over market share.
The most telling thing to me is a quote from Online Media Daily who said that the speech didn't go over well with top telecommunications executives who left the room shaking their heads. It's obvious to me that as much as the music industry didn't learn anything from the cable industry, mobile telecom has learned nothing from either of these industries nor the recent iPhone press.
Cable and broadcast is smart enough to have either signed up with iTunes to sell shows through Apple's music/video service or they've launched their own broadband video network to give fans online and mobile options for viewing. The music industry is still reeling with the decisions of Radiohead, Oasis, Nine Inch Nails and Jamiroquai releasing or planning on releasing music sans record company and Madonna's decision to use a promotion company to release her next records.
It's seems like the larger the industry the harder it is to turn the ship in a new direction. Hopefully the RIAA and mobile providers will be able to do so before they hit an iceberg and lose their passengers.
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