Robert Ricks, a marketing maven and not too shabby graphic designer, writes a good piece about the commoditization of Web widgets. Robert’s resumé includes working at some of the early trend-setting dotcoms during the boom, creating his own trading card game (Magic for the ghetto), and even patrolling the halls as a security guard at Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) where he learned his craft in digital media. Yes, he started there as a nightstick-wielding muscle man but took the initiative to learn some marketable skills from the environment around him. He’s now at an interactive agency called Cobalt Communications Group.

Did you know that if you take into account all the big social networks out there along with the different blogging platforms, there might be around a quarter of a million Web widgets or apps in existence? When Google (GOOG) OpenSocial launches (for the latest news on OpenSocial, visit OpenSocialNow), expect another tsunami of widgets created to take advantage of the next big platform. In this Web 2.0 era, can a marketer simply throw a ton of apps or widgets against the wall and see what sticks?