You’ll no doubt have noticed that MySpace has piped up with the launch date next week for its programme to encourage external software developers to develop both useful and (no doubt) “fun” applications in the style of those seen on Facebook.

Looking back at Google’s OpenSocial announcement from late last year – its system that will allow developers to create applications for a variety of social networks - there is clearly quite a “space-race” on at the moment to win the hearts and minds of the developer cognoscenti in this area.

On the face of it, where Google looked like they had stolen a march on the rest of the crowd was news that in contrast to Facebook, OpenSocial is structured to allow code to be written in straightforward JavaScript or HTML, needing only minor tweaking from that point to enable it to work. However, ZDNET Australia’s Liam Tung has reported that first-stage trial applications could be hacked in less than an hour.

It remains to be seen as to whether we will see some of the players in this space stumble and fall as they race to put out “solutions” in a segment where there is feverish interest and where implementer (and user) expectations are set at extremely high levels.