I just got an email from Google announcing the beta release of Google Chrome for Mac & Linux.

The browser is clean and runs very fast, but remember this is just beta, and there are several features that are missing. Darrell Etherington over at theAppleBlog lists out the missing features, and I particularly am looking forward to have App Mode in Chrome. We’re all excited to see progress being made to get Chrome on the Mac & Linux and hope the changes and improvements come quickly.

Okay I know this is the band wagon, and this is all yesterdays news, but I couldn’t help blogging about Google’s Open Social.  I know it’s been awhile since I have posted anything new, but I have been swamped with launching a new platform.  ZDnet’s Robin Harris hits on an interesting thought about why Microsoft won the  deal with Facebook – that is was a “bluff”on the part of Google to get Microsoft to throw a bunch of money at Facebook.  I agree that 240 million is a small amount for either Microsoft or Google, and I think Harris is right that Google didn’t really want the deal because they had the plans for Open Social ready to reveal the following week to steal the thunder away from the Microsoft/Facebook deal – and they way I see it – it worked.  There are a lot of big companies, including Myspace that is going to support the Open Social movement.

A friend of mine and I were talking about all these big happenings and it’s like a big tug of war.  The good thing about this tug of war is that the social web is going to greatly benefit by the results.  Working in the social networking industry it continues to amaze me how fast the web and development of social applications are moving.  Making it more open and enhancing broad scale collaboration will only speed that process up even more.

Big talks going on in the social network arena.  Microsoft and Facebook are in talks about a big deal wherein Mircosoft may consider investing $300 million to $500 million into Facebook for a 5 percent stake in the company.  Not only that but Google is also expressing interest in the booming social network according to New York Times.

This is the crazy part as noted in the by DealBook editor, Andrew Ross Sorkin:

“The amount, the publication noted, would amount to more than $200 per Facebook user — well above the $70 that Google put on YouTube’s individual eyeballs or $50 that Ebay paid for each of Skype’s earlobes. “

The sandbox of Social Networks is getting pretty hot in the noon day sun, and with this recent deal with Facebook and Microsoft one is left to wonder how News Corp is feeling about this news since MySpace is still the number one social network on the world wide web.  It makes sense that this is a positive note for MySpace since they are still leading the pack in the Social Networking world.  Sorkin points out:

“MySpace is clearly bigger than Facebook. It had about 68 million unique visitors to its site last month, according to comScore. That is about twice the number that stopped by Facebook during the same period. “

If one recalls the big deal with MySpace of $580 million that thought went around that the social networking industry had hit a peak because MySpace is the giant.  That point aside, I ask the question, why Microsoft?  I am sure there are several reasons, but Forrester analyst Charlene Li sums up a very valid point in the Reuters coverage of this story:

“If you are building a business around building a platform there is one company that has done it better than anybody else — and that is Microsoft,” she said. “People have been just assuming that Google would be the best partner and that is not necessarily the case.”

Whether you believe this point or not, there is some undeniable truth to it – look at the numbers.  Any way you look at thi, Mark Zuckerberg, will be a happy man whether Microsoft or Google put a stake into Facebook.  A Microsoft could do a lot with a partnership with Facebook.

One thing that can clearly be derived from this recent news…the game ain’t over yet.  MySpace is not immune to competition and that leaves the opportunities wide open for anyone.