Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Twitter have teamed up to launch an open-source initiative. The Data Transfer Project (DTP) is intended to simplify data sharing across services. DTP is made up of three main components: data models, adapters for data and authentication. The project is open source and will let users move data between any two services using a standard infrastructure and authorization. It’s an interesting time for these companies to be embarking on a data sharing project, given both Facebook and Google have recently been at the center of news involving their use of consumer information.”]