I can totally see Google taking on Facebook and invigorating another social networking development platform. Windows Live has one, as does Yahoo. Question is, who is going to build the platform for the platforms, so things will work everywhere?

Quoted: As I see it, the biggest shortcoming of social-networking sites is their inability to play well with others. Between MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tribe, Pownce, and the numerous also-rans, it seems as if maintaining an active presence at all of these sites could erode into becoming a full-time job. If Google can somehow create a means for all of these services to work together, and seamlessly interact with the Google family, then perhaps this is the killer app that people don't even realize they've been waiting for.

Nice that Microsoft beat Google to this one... though you have to wonder how far down the barrel they had to reach. Could Facebook really be anywhere near this valuable? Too bad MS didn't beat Google to YouTube, or beat Yahoo! to Flickr.

Quoted: After losing many battles to Web behemoth Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) finally won one. On Oct. 24, the software giant prevailed in its bid for a stake in the social network Facebook. Microsoft agreed to buy a $240 million piece of the company in a transaction that values Facebook at $15 billion.