The difference is that Apache wasn't trying to copy the functionality of an extremely popular Microsoft product, they were innovating in a new space that wasn't

The difference is that Apache wasn't trying to copy the functionality of an extremely popular Microsoft product, they were innovating in a new space that wasn't on Microsoft's radar yet. Open distributed social networking is a great idea, but it will be a hard sell for a while I think, until it hits on some sweet area of functionality that aren't on Facebook's and Twitter's radar yet.