Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

While I'd love to be in the shoes of the owners for Facebook, I have to say that Micro$oft's overvaluation of Facebook is appalling.  I can't believe these companies are placing so much emphasis on these useless SNS sites.  Facebook is just a slightly upgraded version of Myspace.  Ultimately though, Facebook has little real value, except in terms of users, data and advertisement.  But how far can that go?  If it's true as people are saying in that people are slowly migrating to Facebook from Myspace just like how people migrated from Friendster to Myspace, then isn't this all a clear indication that the whole SNS space is based on trends?

The thing to me is that Facebook has no real value to the individual except maybe a slightly better interface.  The AJAX capabilities outshines Friendster and Myspace.  Overall though that should not persuade someone like myself to put such a high emphasis on this company.  More than that, it's extremely tiring when one has to continuously migrate their data and friend's data from one site to another since these sites continue to perform poorly in terms of unique services.

With regards to Micro$oft's renewed attempt to get into the SNS space, I think it's a dumb move.  Micro$oft doesn't know jackshit about people, which is why they've failed at getting into the web.  As long as people like Baller is in charge, I believe that M$ will continue to fail in becoming involved in the web.  They don't understand it, they never will.  M$ really needs to stay away from the web and allow other companies to move forward.  M$ is the main perpetrator of problems on the web like viruses, data theft, usability issues, etc. since their software is built for them to have a monopoly, yet lacking essential things to make people's lives better.

If M$ wants to continue voyaging in this space, they need to invest in unique sites that add value to the web, not put tons of money into worthless sites.  BTW, M$ if you want a site some day, forward me $2 mil.  I've got a couple of nice ideas for you.