Facebook hires an open-source dude
The news started to emerge in various Twitter feeds and personal blog posts Monday: David Recordon, a Six Apart developer and prominent open-standards advocate, has left the blog software company to take a job at Facebook.
Recordon, who formally announced the job change on his LiveJournal, will take on the title of senior open programs manager. "This past year as I've worked closer with teams at Facebook, I've been impressed by their products, smart people, and innovation," he wrote in the post.
It wasn't so long ago that Facebook was seen as the ultimate in closed-off technology, with profiles hidden behind a log-in wall and features built with in-house technologies rather than open standards. At that time, a hire like Recordon would've seemed to many a ludicrous match. But Facebook's changing: it joined the OpenID Foundation earlier this year, made a big chunk of its developer platform open-source, and its Facebook Connect universal-log-in product has earned both developer and mass-market approval.
Recordon told me he doesn't want to say too much until after he's actually started at Facebook, which will be on Monday. But I spoke to a few of his soon-to-be Facebook colleagues, and they sound excited: the 5-year-old company has never had an already-prominent open-source advocate on staff, like Google's Chris DiBona.
Facebook, which plans to raise its employee head count by 50 percent this year, made several very prominent hires earlier this month when it acquired start-up FriendFeed in a deal that seems to have been aimed largely at getting its ex-Googler founders on board at Facebook.
Correction 2:25 p.m. PDT: This story initially misstated David Recordon's new title at Facebook. It is senior open programs manager.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
- by PaperNuncio August 25, 2009 5:17 PM PDT
- Ummm...Caroline
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- by NetworkPIMP August 25, 2009 7:09 PM PDT
- PERFECT!
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- by cdibona August 25, 2009 9:22 PM PDT
- I think she meant that this is a position dedicated to open source and open standards, not a general engineering leadership role. Schroepfer understands open source for sure, but his job is different and likely much bigger than a role like that of David will have (or I have at google)
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(3 Comments)"The 5-year-old company has never had an already-prominent open-source advocate on staff,"
Maybe you should look into the background of the VP of Engineering at Facebook. But since you seem to be light on fact checking time or abilities, I'll do it for you:
Before coming to Facebook, Mike was the Vice President of Engineering at Mozilla Corporation, where he led the global, collaborative, open and participatory product development process behind Mozilla's popular software, such as the Firefox web browser.