According to Techcrunch, Dapper, an Israeli base startup, will be launching an new application on Tuesday that enables users to easily develop their own Facebook applications. Roi Carthy, the Techcrunch writer that reviewed it, sounded slightly disappointed by the feature set, stating that it required a little more development know-how on the Facebook side of things.

Whether or not the application worked, the release of this application shows how significant the launch of the Facebook platform is. Just as in the first phase of the web, when companies like GeoCities and Freewebs developed applications to make it simple for anyone to develop a basic website; now companies can make a presence on Facebook with the app development tools.

Recently, I have come to the conclusion that we may have just gone full-circle with the web. Initially, AOL was a walled garden that controlled how users accessed the web. With the advent of companies like NetZero and eventually broadband, users could access the web through the browser of their choice. We are now moving back into a walled garden where anyone has the option to “plant their own flowers.” That analogy may have been a little weak but you’ll have to live with it! Just as AOL was eventually forced to pretty much open up, do you think Facebook will be forced to as well?