Google Sends Facebook to Their Room

Who knew that there would only be a few weeks between December 20^th and February 22^nd?  Not much has happened since then anyway, so it's understandable why Google could have waited so long to release the Gingerbread (Android 2.3.3) update for Nexus One users.   Sure, Nexus One (and Nexus S) users are a vocal minority, so Google added a little something extra to make the update more interesting.  No more special treatment for Facebook contacts.

That means for future phones, and the aforementioned Nexus S (not the Nexus One), Facebook contacts will no longer be allowed to sync with Google's address book unless it uses the publicly available API. Until now, Facebook was given an exemption that allowed it to sync with Google Contacts one way, so when people wanted to transfer their contacts to another device/computer, their Facebook contacts wouldn't be a part of that transition. 

It's just another front in the war for openness that Google is determined to fight, even at the expense of some of its own users' conveniences.  It's a great strategic play at a point when Android market share allows Google enormous leverage.

Facebook has been hypocritical in its stance on user data, but with almost a billion people using their social network, they may prove difficult to coerce.

At least Google is promising this latest Over-The-Air (OTA) update will arrive on all Nexus devices within a few weeks. Oh wait...

Stupid Google time.  I guess we'll be eating Gingerbread in the summer.