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InsideFacebook's Justin Smith managed to wrangle an interview with Google product manager and OpenSocial wonk Peter Chane. Smith even asked a few tough questions. Unfortunately, Chane gave him prolix answers. Here's the whole thing boiled down to one question and a 100-word response.

Smith: Which is better, the Facebook platform or OpenSocial and why?

OpenSocial. Partner sites have over 200 million users. OK, the OpenSocial APIs don't reach as deeply into social graphs as do Facebook's, but if partners want to modify them so that they do it's fine. OK, OpenSocial apps won't be able to send invitations to a user's friends as the apps can on Facebook, but we can copy that idea too. Our philosophy is to allow partners to do all the work. By the way, unlike when Faceboook launched, none of the partners got an early advantage. Except for us. Other containers are not accepting applications as quickly as Orkut.

Chane conclued, "OpenSocial is still very much a work in progress, and we'll have more to say soon." We'll cut that down to a palatable size, too.