The past two weeks have seen a number of announcements by Microsoft, Google, and Facebook that have set the stage for an incredible clash of the titans when it comes to the future of the Internet.
On one side, reigning champion Microsoft, monopolist of the personal computer era, backing young upstart Facebook, the early leader in the emerging social computing era.
On the other side, reigning search engine and online advertising king Google, and instead of backing a single emerging player, they've taken the longer tail and have embraced the concept of Open, which while including open source, also includes a broader philosophical approach to open internet development and initiatives.