In the biggest piece of tech buzz this month, Google announced today that it is launching a platform called OpenSocial (link goes live later today). Essentially, it will allow programmers to create applications that work across a number of social networking sites, breaking down the walls between the various social networks. So a Friendster user could share data with a Myspace page, or a Ning user could connect with a LinkedIn buddy.

Sounds nice, right? The real uproar isn’t technological, though — its business. The blogosphere is exploding with the theory that Google is trying to take down Facebook as the premier social networking platform. If Google can unite all its OpenSocial partners (Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning, Orkut, Plaxo, Friendster and even SalesForce) with joint apps, this collection of Davids can rise up and slay the Facebook Goliath.

The backstory is that late last week, Microsoft bought a 1.5% share in Facebook, which valued Facebook at $15 billion. Google apparently made a similar offer and was rebuffed. So, the thinking goes, they struck back with this OpenSocial initiative. And … War!

But in truth, I think this post from the New York Times blog exposes that theory as somewhat silly. Google isn’t really competing with Facebook:

Google’s new programming interface that allows social networks to communicate with applications is a nifty add-on feature, but it’s not a product. And thus it doesn’t compete with Facebook, despite the dozens of blog posts that say it does.

In fact, my prediction is that Facebook-liath doesn’t try to squash the OpenSocial Davids, but rather decides to join them. I bet its no more than a week before Facebook comes out with a statement intending to build to (or directly on) the Open Social standards. No, I don’t know the behind-the-scene machinations. Maybe there’s too many bean counters telling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that he should keep Facebook’s gates closes and lock out the competition. I hope not. Facebook has already grabbed a ton of marketshare by embracing openness. I predict that Open Social pushed them even further in that direction.

Hope I’m right!