We're at an interesting point in the development life cycle of third-party programs, those little software applications one can add to gadgets and social pages.

While Facebook, widely acknowledged for jump-starting the app frenzy last year, tries to rein in what its partners are up to, Microsoft has decided to open up its Xbox 360 platform for any developer to create a video game. Meanwhile, Apple's sheen continues to get brighter with the success of Steve Jobs' new App Store for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Microsoft's approach, confirmed Thursday, is about control. Anyone can create a game, but not everyone will be approved for release on the Xbox Live service.

Facebook, meanwhile, continues to tweak its appearance and, through a new service called Facebook Connect, it is trying to gain more control over the 400,000 third-party developers that build apps for the social networking site.

Facebook Connect is launching with only 24 apps of the several thousand available.

Connect will allow someone to sign in to a partner site with their Facebook log-in information. The effort is to make the Web "more open and connected," the company said in a press release.

Well, if that's so, let's hope more partners are allowed to open up soon because Facebook is starting to bite the hand that fed its growth.

Microsoft has decided to open up its Xbox 360 platform for any developer to create a video game.

You will see a tree of options. Be sure you select the XNA Game Studio option underneath the Visual C# node. You’ll then see a selection of projects you can create. You can select Windows Game to make games for Windows, or Xbox 360 Game to create Xbox 360 games and make them available to the world through Xbox LIVE Marketplace.