It's a bit early to say that, I think, but this sounds like an interesting development, for sure.
I'm a little confused, though - from what I can tell, these are API's that access information from social networks, iGoogle, etc. That's pretty cool, now people can make applications for the users of those networks.
Still... those saying this competes with Facebook don't really get what the point of Facebook is, at least for college kids.
Well, as a "college kid" myself, and a heavy facebook user, and a total social software dork, I think I know just about as well as anyone the value of Facebook to college students. I can sum it up in two words: Social Capital.
I'm not saying this "competes" with facebook,per se. Rather, it's just an alternative to the idea of an "open (proprietary) API" that has failed in so many ways (uselessness of applications, nagging app requests, lack of universality for things like classes, etc). I'll be writing a blog post on this very topic soon.
While they might resist at first, Facebook is likely to join in and support the OpenSocial API. That doesn't mean F8 is going anywhere, but OpenSocial has a lot of potential to unify social networks on the web, and I doubt Facebook wants to be left out in the cold.
This is exactly the kind of 'open garden' that people have said they wanted from social networks. It only makes sense that it wouldn't be any specific social network that made it happen. I wonder if we'll see Facebook and MySpace participate in this? I'm sure it will just depend on what apps make it to what platforms.
What really matters is how distribution works. Will it be as easy as "Add This Application" and will they list my app in a high traffic directory somewhere? If so, I'm 100% in.
