
Facebook Turns Platfrom Open Source Via fbOpen - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/02/facebook-turns-platfrom-open-source-via-fbopen/
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jfarmer
Here are some thoughts I think are worth discussing.

1\. Did Facebook do this out of competitive pressure from projects like
OpenSocial?

2\. Is Facebook doing this because they're a good citizen or because there's
something in it for them (or both)? Are they looking to have other people
improve the platform? Are they looking to make it easier for other SNs to
adopt their technology?

3\. Do you think people outside Facebook will actively contribute patches back
to the project? Do you think Facebook thinks this?

4\. Does this in any ways indicate a diminished importance of the platform in
Facebook's overall strategy?

I'm not sure what I think, myself. They've released Thrift as OSS already, so
this is just another release in that vein?

I think the most likely scenario is two-fold. One, they want to look like the
good guys, especially in the eyes of the technical set. Releasing a major
component as OSS goes a long way towards doing that.

Two, they want other platforms using their technology rather than Google's.
The platform license is the CC Attribution license, so the only restriction on
using their code is that you have to attribute Facebook in there, somewhere.

That's a really low barrier to adoption.

