Microsoft Releases Wallop - $$$ Opportunity for Flash Developers

Microsoft is trying to tap into the social networking scene with the spin-off of Wallop, formerly one of Microsoft's research sandboxes.  The difference between MySpace and Wallop is that there will be no advertising on Wallop.  Wallop's business model will be based on the sale of  items that personalize the users space.  What will interest most developers is that these items will be coded in Flash.

But can Microsoft catch up?  MySpace has a huge lead with advertising and is fairly easy to use.  Second Life, another competitor in the social networking arena uses a similar business model, but provides a rich scriptable 3D world.  Even MMORPG's such as Blizzard's World of WarCraft vie for a piece of the social networking pie.   I think we're getting close to the point of there being no more new customers for social networking, just stealing existing customers away from the competitors.