So there is to be an OpenSocial Foundation…great! Earlier this week Google, Yahoo and MySpace all got together to tell the world about the importance of creating a Foundation to support Google’s already announced OpenSocial initiative.  OpenSocial (the initiative, not the Foundation) allows developers to use one source for code to create applications  that can be distributed across a number of social networks including MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, etc.

The Foundation announced on March 25 has been entrusted with ensuring that the original principles of OpenSocial would be enforced and “assure neutrality and longevity of specification for building social applications across the web.”  Neutrality and openness are becoming increasingly important for the developer community and for the internet companies themselves who are beginning to show dependence on external development to enhance internal innovation.

However, the announcement itself was far from groundbreaking.  We already knew about the principles of OpenSocial, so why bother with a big announcement?

Well if you are Google, this was a big deal indeed.  Remember a little story about a company called Microsoft trying to buy Yahoo?  Remember Google’s reaction to the news story, through its corporate blog that it hoped the deal would not go through because Yahoo had been an important partner in web development and openness?  Well, it looks as if that philosophical idea had become a reality - now Google and Yahoo are partners in ensuring open web development of the social variety. 

Moreover, Google and MySpace had been rumored to be breaking up over their partnership for advertising.  Again, Google has been able to squelch that rumor with this.

The story a lot of people missed wasn’t the announcement but the players - Yahoo, Google, MySpace all coming together and Google being the tie between them.

So the real winner in the OpenSocial Foundation release?  Yes, of course, the little guys (the developers) are winners.  Certainly the on-going development of the web, in theory at least, will enhance a consumer experience.  But congratulations Google on continuting to be the source of code and partnerships that are tying the world of the web together.