DataPortability has big names on board, but a long road ahead - CNET
Summary
The group, spearheaded by Chris Saad of start-up Faraday Media, is a sort of alliance of Web thinkers devoted to "(putting) all existing technologies and initiatives in context to create a reference design for end-to-end data portability." But the road ahead isnt going to be a smooth one, and social-media enthusiasts hailing the age of "true interoperability" shouldnt hold their breath. The road map for Googles hyped OpenSocial initiative, which will use a common markup language to make applications and widgets compatible among participating social networks, does not yet include a plan for data sharing between different services. Additionally, levels of official affiliation in DataPortability vary, meaning that a representative may enthusiastically agree upon a social-networking standard only to present it to a boss who balks at the idea. This looks like a legitimate effort on behalf of some great minds who really do want to make the social Web run more smoothly, but anything like this is going to take quite some time to overcome the roadblocks.