There's a lot of buzz about Facebook, but what is it, exactly? What does it do? Can anybody join? How much does it cost?

In this article, I'll give you the basics of joining Facebook and what you can expect to find there. I'll explain the opportunities and services available for businesses and for individuals, based on my experience as a newbie who recently joined.

Until I became a member, I didn't really know what Facebook was. A friend of mine had told me that he met his fiancée on Facebook. Another friend said she gets together with her friends from all over the city on Facebook every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. Then I overheard a colleague at work say that he'd been looking for his high school girlfriend for years and, just recently, found her on Facebook, living in Scotland with her deceased husband's family.

All these things left me confused. At first, I believed Facebook was an online dating service, then I thought it was a chat room, and then a worldwide phone directory. Then another colleague told me that members could advertise anything imaginable -- from skiing to skydiving to skeet shooter's clay pigeons -- on the Facebook Marketplace, for free. That sold me. I signed up that very day.

The home page lists many of the features available after you join.

About FacebookFacebook was launched in February 2004 by a young Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg. It started out as a sort of virtual campus hangout for Ivy League students, but quickly expanded from the university to the universe, and now anyone 13 or older can join.

It's growing quickly across the globe (250,000 people become members every day) with new sites in Spanish, German, and, soon, French.

It's also gaining on the more established social-networking site MySpace. Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang says, "We predict that the total registered users of Facebook will eclipse the total amount of MySpace users in Q4 of 2008 but, even with that said, MySpace and Facebook will coexist, because they both serve different purposes to different audiences."

According to Owyang, Facebook is more of a lifestyle site. That is, like the college campuses where it was launched, Facebook has become a central networking hub where its members can connect and share, in spite of their busy lives. Its largest, growing audience is the 35-and-over crowd. MySpace tends to attract the younger social surfers who are more media conscious and therefore flock to MySpace's "bands and brands" multimedia options, which include various forms of artistic self-expression.

Joining FacebookJoining Facebook is as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Go to Facebook.com and create a UserID (your e-mail address), password, and birth date (all three are mandatory fields). Notice that the Sign Up dialog box on the home page says: Sign up for Facebook. It's free and anyone can join. (So that answered my questions about who could join and how much it costs.)

2. Next, type in a security code (a Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart or CAPTCHA; you know, one of those strings of jumbled up, curvy letters that look like shorthand on a roller coaster).

3. Then, Facebook says: You will get an e-mail shortly telling you how to confirm your account. The e-mail provides a link back to Facebook that, when activated, takes you back to the program to begin the ride.

First things firstThere were so many features available, I wanted to hurriedly search through them all so that I could determine which ones might apply to me and my interests.

I quickly noticed, however, that until you join a network (centered around your city, job, high school, or college), and complete a profile, you can't really get much information.

So I went back to the home page and started over.

If you follow certain steps in order (right after you join), Facebook attempts to identify your circle of friends and colleagues by asking you to list your local city, place of work, college, high school, and various e-mail accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail.

If all your connections are in one area, just select the Find Friends button. If your job is one state, college in another, and high school in another (as in my case), Facebook takes the information you provided and selects the top three areas, then prompts you to choose the place you identify with most. At this point, you are then invited to "join a network."

Find friendsOnce you join a network, select Find Friends and, in seconds, Facebook generates pages filled with people in your area. My network in Salt Lake City has more than 75,000 members. So I started browsing randomly through hundreds of screens of happy faces, all of which display names, network, city, and a series of options you can choose, such as send message, poke (which is the Facebook way of tapping someone and saying "hi, what's up, thinking about you"), view their friends, or add their friends to your own friends list. You can also use the Sort Method box to narrow your search by sex, age, relationship status, political views, and so on.

The best thing about this method of "finding friends" is that you can browse through hundreds of member profiles anonymously. You can see what old friends and colleagues are doing -- such as looking up an old sweetheart or finding out what happened to an old college professor -- without committing to anything. Curiosity, however, doesn't always result in personal contact, because, like so many others in this country, I work all the time. But when I read that an old friend of mine had lost her mother to cancer, I did send her a message and a Facebook gift. Now I find that I surf my "friends" network several times a week.

Another great benefit is the option to "Browse All Networks," all over the world. You can't join them all, because Facebook only allows full access to one network at a time, although you can change networks twice every 60 days. But even without full access, you can search for friends in other cities or countries, see postings of local events, browse the local marketplace, join groups, and read the local discussion boards or bulletin boards. That's a lot of access for a network visitor.

My favorite feature, however, is that I can access Facebook from my BlackBerry, which means I can check messages, listen to new music, and view my friends' photos from just about anywhere, even on the plane when I'm traveling (which means I'm having fun instead of stressing about air pockets and downdrafts).

So what is Facebook? It's all those things mentioned above and more. It's an online dating service; a chat room; a worldwide phone directory; an e-mail account; a photo, video and file-sharing warehouse (with unlimited file storage); a place to join or create new clubs or social forums (called Groups); a personal bulletin board (called the Wall); a social calendar (called Events); free advertising in the Marketplace; personal blogs (called Notes); a voter registration service; and even more.

Creative business solutionsIn this case, more means lots of creative opportunities for businesses, bands, and other groups and organizations. For example, with Facebook's social ads, members can create a home page "Sponsored Story" where businesses can promote their products and/or services through the news feed feature, which provides continual updates about what a user's friends are doing. And expanding on that function is the Facebook "Sponsored Group," where businesses can "message blast" registered group members through Facebook's internal e-mail system.

In addition, companies can create mini Web sites (called Facebook pages) where companies, bands, celebrities, and politicians can design custom profiles for their business or career. It's sort of like an online brochure/résumé/advertisement of your products, services, and skills.

Other business opportunities include the Facebook developer's platform (for companies that want to build applications to interface with Facebook) and the Facebook polls for statistical analysis and demographics.

But the site has had its share of controversy. Last month, Facebook responded to user protests and made it easier for members to delete their accounts and all associated data.

It earlier took a lot of heat for its advertising tracking service called Beacon that many deemed to be too intrusive into users' privacy. In December, Facebook responded to the criticism and let users turn off the feature.

In 2006, Facebook was widely lambasted for its news feed component, also because of privacy concerns. Zuckerberg apologized and instituted better privacy controls.

Security/privacyA timeline of Computerworld articles demonstrates the breadth of security/privacy issues that have haunted Facebook.

-- Nov. 9: New Facebook ad system raises privacy concerns

-- Nov 30: Facebook's Beacon more intrusive than earlier thought, CA says

-- Dec. 3: Beacon's user tracking extends beyond Facebook, CA says

-- Dec 3: Facebook's Beacon just the tip of the privacy iceberg

-- Dec 5: Facebook caves in to Beacon criticism

-- Dec. 7: Facebook doesn't budge on Beacon's broad user tracking

-- Dec. 10: Facebook partners quiet on Beacon privacy brouhaha

-- Dec. 10: Facebook Fiasco May Lead to Closer Look at Online Privacy Issues

-- Dec 14: Disgruntled Facebook users look to get disabled accounts reactivated

-- Feb. 13: Facebook bends to user protests, makes it easier to delete accounts

Michael Greene, an analyst at JupiterResearch, says the news feed program has developed into one of the site's better features, especially for businesses. "By allowing users to quickly scan their friends' updates, it has helped turn Facebook into a daily addiction for many users and allowed Facebook to develop innovative browsing options such as its iPhone application."

In each case, Facebook acted to address member complaints. Greene says Facebook "has a tremendous track record for considering their members and responding to their needs."

Facebook's strength, Greene notes, is its ability to link people together in networks, whether geographically based or centered around a school or employer, and provide a fun, highly usable communications platform for friends within these networks.

And the site is continuing to evolve and build on that strength. Recently it rolled out new privacy controls that determine who gets to see members' data, and announced it was developing an online chat service.

Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

After weeks of speculation, it appears that the general public will soon be able to get its hands on the first beta of Microsoft's follow-up to Windows Vista. A message on the MDC (MSDN Developer Conference) site states that all attendees of the upcoming MDC events, a series of Microsoft-sponsored road shows running from early December through mid-February, will receive a Windows 7 Beta 1 DVD in the mail "when they become available."

Microsoft isn't giving an exact delivery date for the Windows 7 beta, but some reports speculate the disc will be ready before January 13.

[ InfoWorld's Randall C. Kennedy and OSNews' Thom Holwerda debated the best way to assess Windows 7's changes ]

Some bloggers, the few who've actually tested the pre-beta code, have voiced concerns about the Windows 7 feature set. Infoworld's Randall C. Kennedy, for instance, recently declared that Windows 7 was essentially a slightly tweaked version of Vista. Other reports have praised-with some reservations-Windows 7's interface improvements, such as a vastly remodeled Windows Taskbar.

Microsoft has indicated that Windows 7 will likely be ready by late 2009 or early 2010, and given the lack of spectacular new features in Vista's replacement, there's no reason to think that Redmond won't meet that timeline. Certainly, the average Vista user would be thrilled if the hated User Account Control security feature would simply go away. Early indications are that it won't, but UAC will undergo some major changes in Windows 7.

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IT vendors may be growing increasingly desperate amid the global economic downturn, but customers must employ a range of tactics -- not just bullying -- to extract cost savings from them, a group of Forrester Research analysts said during a client teleconference Wednesday.

Companies simply can't use a shotgun-style approach and expect to succeed, said software licensing analyst Duncan Jones: "Anything that is undifferentiated, like a general letter that goes out [to vendors] saying we've got to cut everyone's maintenance by 10 percent? That's not going anywhere."

[ For more on how to deal with the recession, check out InfoWorld's special report: IT and the financial crisis. ]

Analyst Paul Roehrig, who focuses on outsourcing and IT services, said it is difficult and awkward to extract price concessions on a signed contract.

"Either you're begging or threatening.... Those [tactics] tend to work, but only for a short time," he said, adding, "unless you're really overpaying, there's really not that much room in the provider's margin where they can lower the price point without changing the service level."

And if a customer does succeed in lowering its services costs, "the vendor is going to immediately substitute junior people," said analyst John McCarthy, whose coverage areas include offshoring.

Instead of begging for a rate cut, customers could instead ask their vendors to assign more seasoned workers to their projects, resulting in productivity gains and cost savings, McCarthy said.

Meanwhile, the tactics are different for software licenses and maintenance agreements, according to Jones.

"One of the problems is, you're dealing with a software rep who has different goals than you. He needs to sell new licenses and has no interest in helping you cut costs," he said. "But if you get up higher in the organization, there are going to be people who care more about the long-term relationship, and there's flexibility there."

That said, now is the time to push for bigger discounts on new licenses, as sales representatives "are desperate to meet their number by end of the year," Jones added.

Companies could even indicate they'd be happy to let any outstanding deals float over into 2009, he said: "That will probably be too late for the rep, so try it as a tactic and see how much flexibility you've got."

Also, customers could use money they're prepared to spend on new software as leverage, Jones said: "Anything you're trying to get, like cutting maintenance on products you're not using, you might be able to get that as a quid pro quo for spending in another area."

Beyond maximizing their buying power, companies should save money by determining which software assets no longer need a maintenance contract, Jones said: "You save costs with minimal impact on the business, but you put pressure on other vendors because it shows you're seriously looking at everything."

A similar approach should be taken to IT services contracts, Roehrig said. "If you're asking for the highest levels of service, you're going to be paying top dollar, when the reality is that the enterprise can function just fine with not everyone having gold-plated service."

Companies should also try to get more value out of outsourcing in general through strategic hiring, he said. "If I had money as a client to invest in one thing ... I would get someone who really knows how to manage a service provider. Some of the best outsourcing deals I've come up against have really good people who know how to get a service provider to do what you want."

Customers should also seek to lower the total number of service providers they contract with, leading the way to bigger volume discounts, Roehrig said. But he noted that this can be difficult for heavily federated organizations to accomplish.

It's also possible to save money by actually helping one's vendor cut costs, according to Jones.

If four divisions within a company are negotiating separately with a vendor, they should consider consolidating those relationships, he said: "I would go to the vendor and say, how can I earn cost reductions by dealing with you in a centralized fashion?"

Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a free plug-in for Firefox to translate Open XML documents, an update to its document translator, and a toolkit for Java developers that was built under the umbrella of its Document Interoperability Initiative.

The group released the OpenXML Document Viewer as an open source project on its Codeplex Web site. The viewer translates documents in the Open XML format, which became an ISO standard in April after much contentious debate , to HTML so they can be viewed on a browser. The viewer, which is still in the preview stage, eliminates the need for a user to install Microsoft Office or any other productivity tool set.

[ Discover the top-rated IT products as rated by the InfoWorld Test Center. ]

The first implementation developed by MindTree and Microsoft works with Firefox 3.0 running on Windows or Linux and translates font types, images, text styles, diagrams, tables, and hyperlinks. In early to mid-2009, the project will add support for Opera and add server-side features.

The software was released during a Document Interoperability Initiative (DII) meeting this week in Belgium.

Microsoft created DII in March with the help of Novell, Mark Logic, Quickoffice, DataViz, and Nuance Communications. The goal was to foster interoperability between document formats, most notably Open XML and the Open Document Format (ODF).

"Basically this is Microsoft sincerely going out and following up with what they did with OpenXML," said Peter O'Kelly, principal analyst with O'Kelly Consulting.

As part of that follow-up, Microsoft plans to support ODF in Office 2007 SP2, which is slated to ship next year.

On top of the Firefox plug-in, DII released Version 2.5 of the Open XML/ODF Translator , which supports Office 2003, 2007 and XP. The new version includes a set of ODF 1.1 compatible templates and chart enhancements for spreadsheet programs.

The templates provide preformatted documents, such as a business letter or fax sheet, that are based on either ODF or Open XML and allow predetermined conversions between formats.

DII also introduced an software developer kit for Java developers that aids in working with Open XML documents. The project aligns with the Apache POI project, which provides Java libraries for reading and writing in Microsoft Office formats.

All the DII software was released as open source projects.

"We have been seeing that a lot of people now understand that what is most important is the end user," said Jean Paoli, general manager of interoperability strategy for Microsoft. "Since for maybe a year now, we are seeing far less passion about the format issue and more rationality."

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Scotland is to host two pioneering datacenters, with plans being announced to build an eco-friendly cloud centre in Inverness, and the world's largest computing facility in Lockerbie.

A new business park, a "sustainable village" with hundreds of homes and what is claimed to be the world's largest datacenter, are to be built in the south-west of Scotland under an ambitious £800 million development plan.

[ Find out more on being environmentally responsible while saving money. And stay up to date on green tech with InfoWorld's Sustainable IT blog, with our Green Tech Topic Center, and with the Green Tech newsletter. ]

The Peelhouses datacenter in Lockerbie, which is being built by Scottish firm Lockerbie Data Centres, will use green energy generated from wind turbines and a new bio-mass power station.

The entire facility will be spread over 250,000 square metres, including the development of 800 new homes in the village. Waste heat generated by the banks of computer servers will be reused to heat the new village as well as the existing town, and the business park

Scottish IT services company Alchemy Plus, with backing from Microsoft, has revealed plans to build a £20 million cloud computing center on the Inverness harbour. Inverness was chosen as an ideal site for the large computing facilities because of its cold climate, which Alchemy intends to harness to reduce the need for cooling.

[ Learn more about what cloud computing really means from InfoWorld's cloud computing primer. ]

The 20,000-square-foot facility is billed as Scotland's first eco-friendly computing facility, with the heat created by the center being used to warm nearby businesses, including a nearby hotel.

The Inverness center will operate on a cloud computing model, enabling users to subscribe on a monthly basis for the IT resources their businesses uses. Alchemy claims this companies that took part in an 18-month pilot saw an average cost savings of 28 percent.

Lockerbie Data Centres still waiting for planning permission of its plans, but chief executive John Hume said he had already received interest from a number of IT firms keen to get involved with the project.

Hume said: "The worldwide shortage of suitable data storage and the high demand for local affordable housing presents a unique opportunity for Scotland and local residents."

"With global demand for data storage expected to double by 2012, demand already outstrips supply."

Chief executive of Alchemy Plus, Peter Swanson, echoed similar sentiments on the demand for datacenter space. "The current economic downturn is driving a rapid shift towards cloud-based services which offer greater economy and flexibility."

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VMware has introduced View 3, the updated version of its virtual data infrastructure (VDI) offering. The company claimed that the new product would reduce desktop storage demands by as much as 70 percent.

In addition, the company said that it could "decouple" a desktop from specific locations to create a personalized view of that desktop, accessible from any other device -- so that a desktop could now be visible from a laptop in another office.

[ Read about VMware's VDI Storage Considerations guide. And stay up to date on the latest virtualization developments with InfoWorld's Virtualization Report blog and newsletter. ]

Jocelyn Goldfein, VMware's global manager for its desktop business said that the move supported the current trend towards mobile working. "Users are no longer tied to a desk," she said. "They use PCs, thin clients, notebooks or even smartphones."

Goldfein said that View3 was part of the vClient initiative announced at VMWorld. She said that the company was now looking at the desktop in the same way that it had looked at the datacenter. "The problem with desktop virtualization is that you still need a device. When you consolidate in a datacenter, you can get rid of 90 percent of the servers, you can't do that with the desktop." She added that View 3 would help bring virtualized desktops to devices.

The main element in View3 is View Composer. This uses a new technology called Linked Clone to generate many virtual desktops from a master image. Only desktops could be created in seconds and centrally controlled by View Manager.

Tommy Armstrong, VMware's senior marketing manager for enterprise desktops said that View 3 users would be able to provision many machines with common software -- for example, Windows, with that "golden master" as VMware calls it. He said that this could also be used for patch management.

In addition, the company has released Offline Desktop, a feature that provides the means to securely move virtual desktops between the datacenter and a local laptop or desktop. The company claimed that this would enable users to "check out" a virtual desktop onto an ordinary PC, such as a laptop, run the virtual desktop locally, and then check it back in to the datacenter.

Techworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.